Meghan Markle delivered a powerful speech on the dangers of online bullying at the unveiling of the Lost Screen Memorial art installation Sunday.
“Behind me stands The Lost Screen Memorial,” the Duchess of Sussex stated at the art installation in Geneva, Switzerland, per Hello!. “Not statistics. Not avatars. Not data points. Children.
“Each name belonged to a child who was loved beyond measure. A child whose laughter once filled a kitchen. Whose shoes once waited by a front door. Whose future once felt limitless,” she added.
Markle, who rocked an all-black pantsuit, called out how addictive and damaging social media can be to children.
“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,” she said.
The mom of two urged parents to set an example for their kids by limiting their own social media usage and writing their elected officials to demand that laws be put in place to protect the youth.
“Let our children look back at this moment, and let them feel proud of us – that we chose something better – for them, and for us all,” she shared.
At the memorial, Markle chatted with a young child and hugged attendees who were visibly emotional by the art installation, which honored the lives of children lost to online harm.
The exhibition, which features 50 illuminated lightboxes, will remain on display through the 79th World Health Assembly, which ends Friday.
Each lightbox includes a picture of a child who died as a result of cyberbullying and other digital harms.
The memorial was created by Markle, 44, and husband Prince Harry’s Archewell Philanthropies, as well as The Parents’ Network, and was first displayed in New York City in April 2025.
The couple launched their charity foundation in 2020, rebranding five years later from Archewell Foundation to Archewell Philanthropies.
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Harry and the “Suits” alum are the parents of son Prince Archie, 7, and daughter Princess Lilibet, 4.
Since becoming parents, the retired royals have been vocal about advocating for children’s online safety.
Most recently, Markle chatted with students from Australia’s Swinburne University of Technology last month.
The actress noted she considers herself “the most trolled person in the entire world” after being “bullied and attacked … every day for 10 years.”
She explained that social media companies are not “incentivized to stop” harassment from users.
“That billion-dollar industry … is completely anchored and predicated on cruelty to get clicks,” Markle said in her speech. “That’s not going to change. So, you have to be stronger than that.”
At last year’s Lost Screen Memorial unveiling in the Big Apple, Harry urged fellow parents to keep their little ones “away from social media.”
The Duke of Sussex, 41, added that it’s “unacceptable” and “wrong” that children lose their lives because “enough is not being done” about social media harm.
Markle, at the time, added, “Our children are in harms way by what’s happening online. … We get to set the example and really put as much good and joy into the world as we can.”
