9 months ago
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Back in October, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex traveled to New York to participate and co-host events around World Mental Health Day. Archewell and Project Healthy Minds did an inaugural forum about internet safety and youth mental health, and the event was moderated by Carson Daly. The Sussexes were also joined by Dr. Vivek Murthy, the US surgeon general, and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff. Some of the discussion featured personal stories from parents who lost children because of internet bullying. Well, this week, the Senate Judiciary Committee had a hearing on online child safety, and Harry and Meghan issued a statement about it:
Today, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee held a bi-partisan hearing on online child safety in front of a packed room including dozens of parents whose children have suffered or died due to online harms. The Archewell Foundation has been working with many of these families to provide a support network for parents dealing with grief or who have children managing serious mental health conditions as a result of their exposure to harmful online content.
Prince Harry and Meghan, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, and co-founders of The Archewell Foundation said:
“We applaud the bravery and determination of the thousands of parents around the country whose advocacy resulted in this hearing.
Over the past few years, we have spent time with many of these families, listening to their heartache and their hopes for the urgent change that is needed in the online space. This is an issue that transcends division and party lines, as we saw today at the Senate hearing. The best parenting in the world cannot keep children safe from these platforms. As one of the fathers shared with us: ‘If love could have saved them, all of our children would still be here.’
This is not the time to pass the buck of responsibility. It’s the time to make necessary change at the source to keep our children safe.”
I’m glad that the Sussexes are drawing attention to the hearing, because it wasn’t even on my radar and I doubt I’m alone there. There needs to be more oversight and additional mechanisms to deplatform people who actively seek to harm people (specifically children) online. That being said, it feels like it keeps getting worse and worse, especially with these social media companies being owned by some of the worst people in the world.
Photos courtesy of Instagram, Getty.
