Meghan Markle has been branded a hypocrite after her speech in Geneva on online harms (Image: Getty)
Meghan Markle has been branded a “hypocrite” after calling for more action to protect children online and sharing a post of Princess Lilibet on Instagram. Internet personality, Samara Gill, said there was “massive hypocrisy” in response to the Duchess of Sussex’s online safety speech in Geneva after sharing a snap of her daughter days before.
Gill said: “It is tone deaf. It’s not a good thing to be doing when you’re trying to lecture those on keeping children away from social media, having some really strong words towards the tech companies and then going and doing quite the opposite.”
ITV News’s Royal Editor, Chris Ship, said he took issue generally with parents who post images of their children online, but cover their faces with emojis to try and protect their privacy, as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have also done before.
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Meghan Markle posted an image including Princess Lilibet days before her Geneva trip (Image: Meghan, Duchess of Sussex/Instagram)
He told The Sun’s Royal Exclusive podcast: “Pick a lane. Either [don’t] put your kids on social media at all or do it, but if you’re going to do it that is your choice as a parent. It’s not your child’s choice to go on social media.”
Ship suggested when children become adults they may turn round to their parents or guardians and ask why they posted images of them without their permission. He added: “It’s a really difficult choice for parents.”
Meghan posted the selfie of Lilibet on May 16. It showed the Duchess inside a room filled with clothes and the princess at her feet, with her back towards the camera.
The image was accompanied by a short caption, reading, “Mama’s little helper”, and included a violet heart emoji.
Prior to that post, Meghan shared another photo of Prince Archie to mark his seventh birthday on May 6.
The Duchess wished her “sweet boy” Archie a happy birthday as she shared a printed photograph of her son being held by Prince Harry as a baby.
Meghan Markle says children are being exposed to harmful social media content they are not seeking out (Image: Getty)
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Ten days later she was in the Switzerland urging global health leaders to act to keep children safe online.
Speaking at a memorial in Geneva for people who have died after suffering digital harm, Meghan described children’s online safety as a “public health issue”.
The Duchess made the remarks at the opening of the Lost Screen Memorial on Sunday, where she was joined by World Health Organisation Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
She told global health leaders, ministers and families affected by online harm: “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.”
Meghan said new technologies, such as AI, are not just repeating past mistakes, but accelerating and amplifying them, adding danger now travels globally.
She said: “We are seeing new forms of harm emerge faster than our systems are prepared to respond, affecting children at alarming scale and across borders.
“But these outcomes are not inevitable, and prevention begins with one simple principle: children must be safe by design, not safe by chance.
“Because danger now travels globally – instantly, invisibly, intimately. And our protections must do the same.”
She called on attendees to speak up and demand better from the platforms shaping children’s lives.