When Prince Harry learned about the landmark social media case in California where Meta Platforms and YouTube were found negligent for harming a young woman with their addictive features, it resonated with his own experience, he told the largest gathering of privacy professionals in the US on Tuesday. “We wanted to be able to really give as much support as we could, because the things they were saying not only seemed true, but the statistics and the evidence was stacking up,” he said. “And I know something about taking on powerful institutions.”
When Prince Harry learned about the landmark social media case in California where Meta Platforms and YouTube were found negligent for harming a young woman with their addictive features, it resonated with his own experience, he told the largest gathering* of privacy professionals in the US on Tuesday.“We wanted to be able to really give as much support as we could, because the things they were saying not only seemed true, but the statistics and the evidence was stacking up,” he said. “And I know something about taking on powerful institutions.”
He called on Congress to pass regulations in the aftermath of the verdict and urged audience members to collectively help “rewire our entire system.” While members of Congress have echoed those calls, their efforts to date have languished thanks to lobbying efforts by tech companies (see here).
“We cannot wait for behavior to magically change when incentives are structured around employee accountability and maximizing profit, and the system itself is designed to keep people addicted,” he said.
Prince Harry also criticized comments the day before from Google legal chief Kent Walker (see here) who said market pressure, not the threat of regulation, will drive companies to compete on privacy safeguards, calling them “slogans with a sinister undertone.”
“Because this is about more than one individual,” he said. “It is about the systems that shape and influence all of our lives.”
That’s why Prince Harry said he and his wife regularly spent time with parents in Los Angeles as their case proceeded in court. Each day they learned more about how technology had “stolen” their children’s lives and even led some to commit suicide, he said.
All those families, and more like them, have experienced irreparable harm because of the way technology intersected with their child's life, he said. And yet parents had to wait more than five years to gain access to their child's phone and apps.
A jury in New Mexico this month also found Meta Platforms violated state consumer protection law by misleading users about teen safety and designing its platforms in ways that put young users at risk, awarding the state $375 million in civil penalties (see here).
The jury verdicts in Los Angeles and Santa Fe are a cultural reckoning that’s taken too long to happen, Prince Harry said.
“The fact that even one child is taking their own life because of what — because the content is being pushed down on social media, is fundamentally wrong,” he said.
The good news is, artificial intelligence offers solutions, he said, because it gives companies a “rare opportunity” to reverse those trends and embed accountability, privacy and safety into the architecture from the start.
“We can choose innovation that benefits everyone,” he said, “not just a handful of companies.”
*IAPP Global Summit 2026: Privacy-AI Governance, Washington, DC; March 30-April 1, 2026.
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