Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are inserting themselves into the debate around online safety of minors, through a series of events and initiatives.
While this is undoubtedly a worthy cause – when judged by the declared intent alone – things become controversial and complicated with legislative efforts lacking proper privacy and security safeguards.
By either not dealing with the ramifications of age verification, and digital ID, or actively attacking end-to-end encryption, these efforts could serve as the building blocks of a future expansive censorship and surveillance infrastructure, exposing all internet users to it.
Yet Meghan and Harry’s Archewell Foundation Parents’ Network is fully behind proposals like the TAKE IT DOWN Act. The bill is supposed to deal with real and AI-generated non-consensual intimate imagery (NCII) – but digital rights activists criticize it precisely for the lack of safeguards and the wider censorship potential.
The Foundation is also working together with a number of child safety groups, including the UK’s 5Rights Foundation, which has endorsed the sweeping censorship law, the Online Safety Act, and is a long-time proponent of online age verification.
Prince Harry and Meghan last week in New York unveiled a memorial consisting of installations in the shape of giant smartphones, whose “displays” feature images of minors who their parents believe lost their lives as a consequence of engaging with harmful online content.
Supporters of badly formulated, too broad, or vague legislation – which courts in the US are more and more frequently finding incompatible with the Constitution – often turn to emotionally charged testimonies and cases as a means to advance their point of view.
In New York, Harry took the opportunity to declare that “life is better off social media” and insinuate that children are currently being “lost to social media” – which requires “things to change.”
He referred to the memorial as “a powerful call to action for urgent online safety reform.”
Another event he took part in last week was a roundtable hosted by the Responsible Tech Youth Power Fund (RTYPF), which has received funding from the Archewell Foundation and Melinda French Gates’ Pivotal Ventures, among others.
More regulation along the path laid out by the already existing and proposed new law was urged during this gathering as well.
