The Duchess of Sussex has revealed she was “bullied and attacked” daily for a decade on social media, describing herself as “the most trolled person in the entire world”.
Meghan made the candid remarks during a discussion with young people from the Australian mental health organisation Batyr at Melbourne’s Swinburne University of Technology on Thursday.
Her husband, the Duke of Sussex, added that social media had “led to so much loneliness for so many people”.
Discussing the benefits of therapy, Harry shared his personal experience, stating: “I waited until I was literally in the fetal position, much older, lying on the kitchen floor.
“Until I was like, OK, maybe this therapy thing – maybe I should try it.”
Speaking in a classroom on the third day of her Australian visit, Meghan said social media companies were “not incentivised to stop”.
“And I can speak to that really personally, which is why I like to listen, because it rings true for me in a very real way,” she said.
“For now, 10 years, every day for 10 years, I have been bullied and attacked. And I was the most trolled person in the entire world.”
The duchess added: “Now, I’m still here.
“And when I think of all of you and what you’re experiencing, I think so much of that is having to realise that you know that industry, that billion-dollar industry, that is completely anchored and predicated on cruelty to get clicks – that’s not going to change.
“So you have to be stronger than that.”
During the group discussion, Harry said Australia’s ban on under-16s using social media was “epic” from a “responsibility and leadership standpoint”.
Wearing a blue shirt and jeans, the duke said: “Australia took the lead.
“Your government was the first country in the world to bring about a ban.
“Now we can sit here and debate the pros and cons of a ban – I’m not here to judge that.
“All I will say is from a responsibility and leadership standpoint – epic.”
He added: “Because so many countries have now followed suit, but it should have never got to a ban.”
The duke and duchess have long campaigned to raise awareness about the harms of social media.
Harry said: “It should have never ever got to a ban. And now that the ban is in place, now what follows?
“Because the companies themselves have to be accountable, and there’s no way that young people should be punished by being banned from something that should be safe to use, no matter what.”
The duke also discussed regional differences in mental health support with the young people, telling them: “I’m not a city person, my mental health could not stand living in a city – no way.”
Batyr is a preventative youth mental health organisation, which delivers peer-to-peer programmes in schools, universities and workplaces and “uses lived experience storytelling to spark conversations around mental health”.
It is hosting a two-day workshop in Melbourne to address the challenges faced by rural and remote young people, “being left behind by a crisis-driven mental health system”.
Batyr was founded in 2011 by Sebastian Robertson, who decided to share his experience of mental ill-health to “normalise conversations and provide hope to young people going through tough times”.
The organisation, named after an elephant in a Kazakhstan zoo that was claimed to be able to use more than 20 human phrases, works to address a “youth mental health crisis in Australia”.
