Meghan Markle has opened up to young Aussies about once being “the most trolled person in the world” while speaking at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex stopped by the university on the third day of their Australian visit to discuss the dangers of social media in partnership with Batyr, a local charity aimed at supporting young people’s mental health.
“For 10 years, every day for 10 years, I have been bullied and attacked.I was the most trolled person in the entire world. Now, I’m still here,” Meghan told a classroom of students, per PEOPLE.
Meghan, who has discussed the negative impacts of social media in the past, also took aim at social media companies more broadly, saying they are “not incentivised to stop” online trolling, something she said “rings true for me in a very real way”.
“When I think of all of you and what you’re experiencing, I think so much of that is having to realise that [the] industry, that billion-dollar industry, that is completely anchored and predicated on cruelty to get clicks. That’s not going to change,” Meghan said.
“So you have to be stronger than that,” she added.
Prince Harry echoed that sentiment in his own comments — telling students that social media has “led to so much loneliness” — before praising the Australian government’s under-16s social media ban, which began rolling out in December.
“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,” Harry said.
“All I will say is from a responsibility and leadership standpoint, [it’s] epic, because so many countries have now followed suit, but it should have never got to a ban,” he added.
Spain, Malaysia, France and Denmark are a few of the countries looking to install their own versions of an under-16s social media ban following Australia’s world-first laws.
Mental health is said to be a key focus of Harry and Meghan’s Australian trip, which will take them to engagements in Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney before the visit wraps up at the end of this week.
Meghan will next appear at a Sydney retreat for Her Best Life, the podcast co-founded by Gemma O’Neil and Jackie ‘O’ Henderson.
Reps for Harry and Meghan were forced to speak out last month when more than 35,000 signed a petition calling for their Australian visit to be self-funded, confirming the couple are footing the bill for the trip themselves.
Lead images: Getty
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