What Meghan Markle and Prince Harry Said about Social Media Before Quitting

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have reportedly turned their backs on social media after years of trolling and abuse.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have no plans to launch Archewell on Twitter or Instagram, where their previous Sussex Royal account had 10.4 million followers, according to the Sunday Times.

Harry and Meghan signed out of their Sussex Royal Instagram account in March when they stepped back from royal duties and as a result have no current social media accounts.

The duke and duchess have made no formal announcements but the newspaper reported they are unlikely to return to the platform any time soon.

The couple have a long and difficult history with platforms like Twitter dating back to the first announcement of their relationship in fall 2016.

Just weeks after Meghan was first named as the prince's new girlfriend, Harry's press secretary released a rare public statement condemning trolls.

The statement read: "His girlfriend, Meghan Markle, has been subject to a wave of abuse and harassment.

"Some of this has been very public—the smear on the front page of a national newspaper; the racial undertones of comment pieces; and the outright sexism and racism of social media trolls and web article comments."

The next four years saw increased hostility between supporters and critics of the couple on social media as they married, had son Archie and ultimately stepped down as members of the royal family.

However, a statement on Sussex Royal in January last year read: "The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will continue to have a social media platform."

At the time, their Sussex Royal Instagram account had been used to make significant announcements about their lives.

It was the first place they hinted at having relocated to Canada, a Thanksgiving message with a maple leaf, in a step that would ultimately pave the way for them moving to America permanently.

They also shared some early photos of baby Archie through Instagram and when it came time to sign out as senior working royals at the end of March they posted a goodbye message.

It read: "While you may not see us here, the work continues.

"Thank you to this community—for the support, the inspiration and the shared commitment to the good in the world.

"We look forward to reconnecting with you soon. You've been great!"

However, their opposition to social media platforms, in addition to trolls, came out stronger than ever over the summer when they backed Stop Hate for Profit, an ad boycott targeting Facebook.

Meghan told Time magazine about their approach to social media in October.

She said: "It can feel really overwhelming to try to understand all the nuance of what happens online.

"It is all-encompassing and it affects us at a multi-faceted level.

"And so we started with professors and experts in the field, with defectors from some of the largest platforms, neurologists—people to really help us view it through a holistic approach.

"And in that there have been relationships, and now friendships, that we have formed with a lot of these people who have a shared goal of wanting to make this space healthier and better for all of us."

That same month, she told the Teenager Therapy podcast: "I'm told that in 2019 I was the most trolled person in the entire world, male or female.

"Now, eight months of that I wasn't even visible, I was on maternity leave or with a baby.

"But what was able to just be manufactured and churned out, it's almost unsurvivable, that's so big, you can't think of what that feels like, because I don't care if you're 15 or 25, if people are saying things about you that aren't true, what that does to your mental and emotional health is so damaging."