‘None of you ought to be right here’: Tearful Prince Harry speaks to bereaved British households who blame social media for his or her kids’s deaths as landmark courtroom case begins in US

Prince Harry has joined British families in Los Angeles who claim their children died after using social media, emotionally telling them: ‘None of you should be here.’

The Duke of Sussex fought back tears in front of the bereaved parents after a major court case to examine the mental health effects of Instagram and YouTube began.

An emotional Harry, who was with his wife Meghan, praised the families for ‘telling your stories over and over again’ amid his hopes for ‘truth, justice and accountability’.

In a video of his comments shown on BBC Breakfast today, the Duke referenced his own recent court battles which relate to his security and claims against the media.

Harry told the group last night: ‘We’ve said time and time again that this is a David versus Goliath situation. I’ve been in some similar situations myself, vastly different.

‘But when you were 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 them 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.

‘Do not feel ashamed, do not feel concerned. Even if the judge – as I heard – turned round and asked you not to show emotion.’

He added: ‘As I said, none of you should be here. So, 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.’

Among the British parents who have travelled to Los Angeles to support those bringing the case is Ellen Roome, 49, whose son Jools Sweeney died aged 14 at home in Cheltenham in 2022.

She believes Jools died after an online challenge went wrong and has been trying to obtain data from TikTok and ByteDance which she believes could provide an explanation as to what happened.

Ms Roome is campaigning for Jools Law, a Crime and Policing Bill amendment that would bring in automatic preservation of a child’s social media data if they die.

Also today, Harry and Meghan released a new statement about online harms, saying the case is a ‘pivotal moment taking place this week as it pertains to families seeking truth, justice and safeguards for children and communities around the world’.

They added: ‘This week, social media companies are starting to face accountability across the world.

‘In Los Angeles, Meta and Google face the first jury trial examining whether social media companies deliberately designed their platforms to addict children.

‘Hundreds of families are bringing similar claims, arguing that features like infinite scroll and manipulative algorithms were built with profits, not child safety, as the priority.’

The couple also cited efforts by countries to clamp down on social media use by children.

They said: ‘While bans do not solve the broken design innate to many social media platforms, it does require them, and their business models, to immediately stop treating young people as entities to extract data from at all costs.’

The couple continued: ‘Action from world leaders signals that protecting childhood is a societal responsibility, not just a parental one. Something that has always been a prerequisite for all companies, but not yet these ones.

‘Court cases may finally force platforms to answer for design choices they’ve long avoided addressing even exist.’

They added: ‘The real test now is whether platforms and all new technology companies will design with children’s wellbeing as a first principle – or whether we’ll keep needing governments and courts to force their hand.

‘We invite you to support these brave families and parents who have paid the ultimate cost in losing a child, yet who still stand strong and ready to fight for the rights of other families, championing their efforts as they advocate for the protection of all children online.’

Harry and Meghan launched the Parents’ Network in August 2024 in association with their Archewell Foundation charity, aiming at tackling harm caused to children by the internet.

In yesterday’s hearing at Los Angeles County Superior Court, Meta’s Instagram boss Adam Mosseri testified that he disagrees with the idea that people can be clinically addicted to social media platforms.

The question of addiction is a key pillar of the case, where plaintiffs seek to hold social media companies responsible for harms to children who use their platforms.

Meta Platforms and Google’s YouTube are the two remaining defendants in the case, which TikTok and Snap have settled.

At the core of the case is a 20-year-old identified only by the initials ‘KGM,’ whose lawsuit could determine how thousands of similar lawsuits against social media companies would play out.

She and two other plaintiffs have been selected for bellwether trials – essentially test cases for both sides to see how their arguments play out before a jury.

Mr Mosseri, who has headed Instagram since 2018, said it was important to differentiate between clinical addiction and what he called problematic use.

The plaintiff’s lawyer, however, presented quotes directly from Mr Mosseri in a podcast interview a few years ago where he used the term addiction in relation to social media use – but he clarified that he was probably using the term ‘too casually’.

Mr Mosseri said he was not claiming to be a medical expert when questioned about his qualifications to comment on the legitimacy of social media addiction.

But he said someone ‘very close’ to him has experienced serious clinical addiction, which is why he said he was ‘being careful with my words’.

Mr Mosseri said he and his colleagues use the term ‘problematic use’ to refer to ‘someone spending more time on Instagram than they feel good about, and that definitely happens’.

It is ‘not good for the company, over the long run, to make decisions that profit for us but are poor for people’s well-being,’ Mr Mosseri said.

Mr Mosseri and the plaintiff’s lawyer, Mark Lanier, engaged in a lengthy back-and-forth about cosmetic filters on Instagram that changed people’s appearance in a way that seemed to promote plastic surgery.

‘We are trying to be as safe as possible but also censor as little as possible,’ Mr Mosseri said. 

In the courtroom, the bereaved parents seemed visibly upset during a discussion around body dysmorphia and cosmetic filters.

Meta shut down all third-party augmented reality filters in January 2025.

The judge made an announcement to members of the public yesterday after the displays of emotion, reminding them not to make any indication of agreement or disagreement with testimony, saying that it would be ‘improper to indicate some position’.

During cross examination, Mr Mosseri and Meta lawyer Phyllis Jones tried to reframe the idea that Mr Lanier was suggesting in his questioning that the company is looking to profit off of teens specifically.

Mr Mosseri said Instagram makes ‘less money from teens than from any other demographic on the app,’ noting that teens do not tend to click on ads and many do not have disposable income that they spend on products from ads they receive.

During his opportunity to question Mr Mosseri for a second time, Mr Lanier was quick to point to research that shows people who join social media platforms at a young age are more likely to stay on the platforms longer, which he said makes teen users prime for meaningful long-term profit.

‘Often people try to frame things as you either prioritize safety or you prioritize revenue,’ Mr Mosseri said. ‘It’s really hard to imagine any instance where prioritizing safety isn’t good for revenue.’

The trial is scheduled to continue on Friday.

Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg is expected to take the stand on February 18, with YouTube chef executive Neil Mohan the following day.

For the Los Angeles jury to find the companies liable, they will have to find that Meta and YouTube were negligent in designing or operating the platforms, and that their products were a substantial factor in harms to the woman’s mental health.

Access to social media for children has become a major issue globally in recent years, with Australia becoming the first country to prohibit use of the platforms for children younger than 16 in December.

Britain, Spain, Greece and France are among the many other countries considering similar action.

In the US, Meta, YouTube and other social media platforms face a wave of litigation from families, school districts and state attorney generals.

Meta is also facing a separate trial in New Mexico that began this week.

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