A few weeks ago, it emerged that in between shopping trips and keynote addresses, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry had begun to call their connections with a special request. As a part of the Stop Hate For Profit campaign, the couple asked CEOs and other business leaders to think about how hate online spreads and put pressure on Facebook to change their moderation strategies. On Friday, Harry published an op-ed in the business magazine Fast Company to explain their work and elaborate on his stance as a social media skeptic. In it, he comes out swinging, discussing a “coercive” attention economy and comparing the current moment to our society’s late awakening to the dangers of lead in household objects.
“In the 1970s, there was a groundbreaking study on the societal effects of lead exposure and kids,” he writes. “The research found a clear connection between lead accumulation in children and their mental development. There’s no debate over the dangers of lead today, but at the time, the development was met with strong resistance from industry leaders (lead was used widespread in products such as gas, house paint, and water pipes).” Ultimately, he compares this process to new research that suggests social media is harmful for young people.
He also mentions the impact that digital ad spending has had on the traditional media. He writes, “The standards and practices advertisers rely upon when placing their commercials on television, for example, do not apply when it comes to the online space—arguably, the largest broadcaster in the world. And for the first time in history, the ad spend in this relatively lawless space is beginning to overshadow the more traditional spaces.”
He ends the op-ed with a faint message of hope for the future. “The internet has enabled us to be joined together. We are now plugged into a vast nervous system that, yes, reflects our good, but too often also magnifies and fuels our bad,” he writes. “We can—and must—encourage these platforms to redesign themselves in a more responsible and compassionate way.”
In some ways, the Stop Hate for Profit campaign is a fairly technical issue for Harry to get involved in, but it also ties together some of the other issues that have been important for him in the past, like mental health and opposing toxic behavior on behalf of the media.
During Meghan’s time in the royal family, she and Harry relied more on social media to get their message out than ever before, even reportedly bypassing the royal press office when they announced that Meghan was in labor with their son, Archie Mountbatten-Windsor. When they started their own Instagram in April 2019, it became one of the fastest accounts to ever get 1 million followers. But in the months since their royal exit became official on March 31, Meghan and Harry have not posted to their own social media accounts, choosing to spread their messages on the accounts of their nonprofit partners.
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