Meghan, Duchess of Sussex spoke about safeguarding children from trolling during a talk in Columbia.
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex spoke about her worries over trolling and safeguarding young people
The 43-year-old former actress was a guest speaker at the Responsible Digital Future forum in Bogota on Thursday night (15.08.24), amid her unofficial tour with husband Prince Harry, and spoke of adults responsibility to be good role models for their children when it comes to how they behave online.
She began: “Maybe your grandmother used to say it to you, ‘if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.'"
Meghan continued: “The digital age has almost created a culture where if you don’t have anything cruel to say, don't say anything at all. And that is fundamentally changing how we move through the world, how we connect with each other, and I think, as we continue with this work, we continue learning and investing and grant giving to young adults, we can be changemakers in this space.
“A lot of it is how we as adults role model that behaviour both offline, and certainly how we role model online. As parents we have that responsibility, as global citizens we have that responsibility, but as digital citizens we have that responsibility to model how we want our children to be raised, and the world which we want them to be raised in.
“It now includes the digital world. It’s not going away, so it’s how we can use what we know and continue to push the envelope to keep all of us safer, specifically our children.”
Elsewhere, Harry warned of the dangers of false information spreading online during a visit to a school during the first day of their tour.
The 39-year-old royal gave a speech about issues including the rise of AI and the dissemination of dangerous untruths on social media.
He told the audience: "What happens online within a matter of minutes transfers to the streets. People are acting on information that isn’t true.
"It comes down to all of us to be able to spot the true from the fake. In an ideal world, those with positions of influence would take more responsibility. We are no longer debating facts.
"For as long as people are allowed to spread lies, abuse, harass, then social cohesion as we know it has completely broken down."
Harry added that "education and awareness" is key to solving the problems online.
Harry and Meghan visited the school alongside Colombia's Vice President Francia Marquez and they took part in an Insight Session discussing social media with students.
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