India McTaggart
The Duchess of Sussex has warned that social media can lead young girls to anorexia.
The duchess, 44, used a speech in Geneva to say that children were being “shaped” by algorithms and harmful content that they “are not seeking out”.
Speaking at the inauguration of a memorial to children who have lost their lives after online harms, she told the audience that girls could quickly be drawn into severe eating disorders.
Citing real-world examples, the duchess said that “a joyful and athletic young girl” could go online “looking for healthy recipes”, but instead be shown a barrage of “body dysmorphia content and pro-anorexia videos”.
The duchess said a girl called Katie had been “hospitalised for months with a severe eating disorder”, with her family seeing “their vibrant daughter suddenly sick from the social media she logged into”.
She continued: “Children today are being shaped by systems designed to capture attention at any cost: relentless algorithms, exploitative engagement, and endless exposure to harmful content that they are not seeking out.”
Speaking in Switzerland before the opening of the 79th World Health Assembly, the duchess unveiled the Lost Screen Memorial, which is dedicated to the memory of children whose families believe harmful material online contributed to their deaths.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex opened the memorial in the US last April, in New York, as part of the No Child Lost to Social Media campaign, but it has been moved to the Place des Nations in Geneva.
The installation is made of 50 smartphone-shaped light boxes, each displaying a photograph of a child whose life was lost. It will stay in Geneva throughout the assembly, hosted by the World Health Organisation and Archewell Philanthropies.
Visitors will be able to hear the stories of the children featured in the memorial through its digital companion experience.
The duchess joined global health leaders, politicians and families affected by online harms at the event, where she warned that social media can make young people suicidal.
She cited the case of Mason, a teenage boy, who died after a break-up, when social media platforms “preyed upon his pain” and “offered him ideas of how he should take his life”.
The duchess said: “These stories are not isolated. They are consistent. And they are not the fault of the child, nor the parent.” She warned that AI was further compounding the risks.
She added: “At the same time, advancing technologies, such as AI, are not just repeating past mistakes – they are accelerating and amplifying them.”
“We are seeing new forms of harm emerge faster than our systems are prepared to respond, affecting children at alarming scale and across borders.”
The duchess and her husband have campaigned against the dangers of social media for years, accusing big tech companies of prioritising profits over the wellbeing of young people.
Last month, the duchess compared the addictiveness of social media to heroin during a talk in Australia, where she said: “Every day for 10 years, I have been bullied or attacked, and I was the most trolled woman in the entire world,” she said.
The duchess concluded her speech in Switzerland by encouraging everyone to “speak up” and “demand better” for children worldwide.
She asked: “Because if an adult is barely able to survive the bullying and predation of the online world and the dangers that these platforms can bring, how is a child?”
The Duke of Sussex’s late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, battled with bulimia.
While in Australia last month, the duke praised the nation for taking the lead on tackling the dangers of social media by imposing an under-16s ban.
“Your government was the first country in the world to bring about a ban. We can sit here and debate the pros and cons of the ban, I’m not here to judge that. All I will say from a responsibility and leadership standpoint: epic,” he said.
The Telegraph, London
