BBC Breakfast host Ben Boulos announced Prince Harry and Meghan Markle had issued a statement following a US court case which saw two technology giants found liable for a young woman’s social media addiction. Speaking at the end of a report on the case he announced: “The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have released a statement. They’ve welcomed that verdict. The couple met with UK families, including Ellen Roome, who lost her oldest son, Jools, when they travelled to the US. They described it as a reckoning and said that ‘for too long, families have paid the price for platforms built with total disregard…for the children that they reach,” he said.
His remarks came after a lengthy report on the case, which explained the details. “It’s been called a landmark trial,” co-host Naga Muchetty said, “With campaigners here hoping it could radically transform the way social media firms operate…The case revolves around a now 20-year-old woman known as Kaylee, who said her childhood was blighted by addiction to social media websites on which she would spend up to 16 hours a day.
“Kaylee sued Meta, which owns Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, and also Google, which owns YouTube. The two firms were found liable for intentionally building addictive social media platforms which harmed her mental health.
“A jury found they acted with malice, oppression or fraud. The now 20-year-old was awarded $6 million or £4 and a half million pounds in damages.
“Meta will be expected to shoulder 70% of the fine, whilst Google will pay the remaining 30% the two firms have separately said that they disagree with the verdict and both intend to appeal it.”
At the time Harry said he was “grateful” that his children Prince Archie, five, and Princess Lilibet, three, are currently too young to use social platforms.
“We want to make sure that things are changed so that… no more kids are lost to social media. Life is better off social media.
“The easiest thing to say is to keep your kids away from social media. The sad reality is the kids who aren’t on social media normally get bullied at school because they can’t be part of the same conversation as everybody else.
“We’re just grateful that our kids are too young to be on social media at this point,” the Duke said.
