• Prince Harry and Meghan Markle visited Batyr, a mental health engagement program, in Melbourne, Australia on April 16.
  • The Duchess got candid about being “bullied and attacked every day for 10 years” when talking about online safety for children.
  • Meghan also admitted that she felt like “the most trolled person in the entire world” at one point.

Meghan Markle is opening up about being a target for online hate since joining the royal family. On a recent royal trip to Australia, Meghan and Prince Harry spoke to a group of young students at a mental health engagement program, Batyr, and Meghan didn’t hold back when it came to her own experiences with cyberbullying.

Harry commended Australia for protecting the health and safety of its young people, as it became the first country to ban social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook for children under 16.

“Now we can sit here and debate the pros and cons of a ban—I’m not here to judge that. All I will say is from a responsibility and leadership standpoint – epic,” Harry said at the event on April 16.

Meghan later added, “And I can speak to that really personally, which is why I like to listen, because it rings true for me in a very real way. For now, 10 years, every day for 10 years, I have been bullied and attacked. And I was the most trolled person in the entire world.”

The Duchess of Sussex has faced intense media scrutiny over the years because of her untraditional approach to royal culture when she married into Prince Harry’s family.

She continued, “And when I think of all of you and what you’re experiencing, I think so much of that is having to realize that you know that industry, that billion-dollar industry, that is completely anchored and predicated on cruelty to get clicks—that’s not going to change. So you have to be stronger than that.”

Meghan and Harry have been passionate about online safety long before their Australia trip, as they founded ParentsTogether (formerly known as the Parents Network) back in 2022. With young children of their own, they’re looking to protect them from the dangers of internet culture.

At the time, Meghan told CBS Sunday Morning, “Our kids are young, but all you want to do as parents is protect them. And so, as we can see what’s happening in the online space, we know that there’s a lot of work to be done there, and we’re just happy to be able to be a part of change for good.”