Prince Harry has spent years campaigning against social media companies and children’s access to smartphones. This subject was why he spoke at the Clinton Global Initiative in 2024, and why Harry and Meghan created The Lost Screen Memorial as well as the Parents Network. Well, this week, Harry met with parents who have lost children due to smartphones, social media and YouTube. The parents are part of an important case before the California courts.

The Duke of Sussex has thanked bereaved families mounting a legal challenge against two of the world’s biggest tech companies for “telling your stories over and over again”.

Prince Harry made the remarks in an at-times emotional address to parents gathered after the start of a landmark trial in California that will examine whether Instagram and YouTube damage young people’s mental health. The families are alleging that the online platforms are addictive by design. Lawyers for YouTube and Meta, which owns Instagram, reject the allegations.

Prince Harry expressed hope for “truth, justice and accountability” in footage shared exclusively with BBC Breakfast.

His remarks come after the prince launched a campaign for stronger protections for children from the dangers of social media last year.

“We’ve said time and time again that this is a David versus Goliath situation,” the prince told the bereaved families, who had gathered on Wednesday evening following the day’s court proceedings.

“I’ve been in some similar situations myself – vastly different – but when you’re sitting in court and if you have that feeling of just overwhelming emotion, because you can’t believe that the people on the other side are saying what they’re saying – that by the very nature of defending what they’re defending, the lies that they are stating, is devaluing life, is devaluing your children’s lives – if that brings stuff up for you, it is totally normal,” he said.

“None of you should be here,” Harry said with an audible warble to his voice. “Thank you for doing everything that you’ve done. Thank you for telling your stories over and over again. Truth, justice and accountability: those are the three things that will come from this.”

[From BBC]

I’m including the short clip below, and you can hear the emotion in Harry’s voice. He and Meghan have spent a lot of time with these families and other families who have lost children. It’s one of Harry’s biggest causes these days, and it’s interesting that he’s closely following this case and meeting with the parents involved with the case. It really is heartbreaking and I genuinely believe that the more Harry (an incredibly high-profile celebrity) highlights these issues, the more likely it is that Meta and YouTube are forced to change their policies.

'None of you should be here'

Prince Harry has joined British families in Los Angeles, who say their children died after using social media, as a landmark court case in the United State accused Instagram and You Tube of creating "addiction machines"https://t.co/ZlTln0bkeZ pic.twitter.com/bjN8o7sOYt

— BBC Breakfast (@BBCBreakfast) February 12, 2026

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.