Meghan Markle and Prince Harry praised a landmark verdict against YouTube and Meta, saying “truth has been heard” as they welcomed the ruling’s wider impact.
After a Los Angeles jury ruling that found Meta and YouTube negligent in a landmark social media addiction case, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex called it a turning point for families.
“This verdict is a reckoning,” the couple said in a statement to PEOPLE.
They added, “For too long, families have paid the price for platforms built with total disregard for the children they reach. We stand with every parent and young person who refused to be silenced. Today, the truth has been heard and precedent has been set.”
Harry and Meghan shared, “Today’s verdict in Los Angeles and yesterday’s ruling in New Mexico are landmark victories for families, advocates, and young people everywhere,” adding that “justice has caught up to Big Tech.”
“The harm isn’t in parenting, it’s in product design,” they said, arguing that the systems behind social media platforms were “built to exploit, not protect.”
Meta and YouTube also issued their own statement after the verdict.
"We respectfully disagree with the verdict and are evaluating our legal options," a Meta spokesperson said, adding, "Teen mental health is profoundly complex and cannot be linked to a single app."
A Google spokesman echoed that, saying, "This case misunderstands YouTube, which is a responsibly built streaming platform, not a social media.”
To note, Prince Harry and Meghan have long championed online safety in their philanthropy work.
