Earlier this year, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced that their foundation, Archewell, would be a founding member of the Responsible Technology Youth Power Fund, a philanthropic project bringing together an intergenerational cohort of leaders advocating for an inclusive, equitable, and accountable tech ecosystem. In a new video announcing the youth-led initiatives that will be joining the fund, the duke and duchess explained their reasons for working to make the internet safer.
“Thank you for doing everything that you do. Our kids, especially, are grateful,” said Harry.
“They don’t know it yet!” Meghan clarified with a laugh. “But they will.”
Even though Archie, 4, and Lilibet, 2, might be too young to appreciate it, Meghan and Harry have made promoting internet safety one of their main charitable endeavors since moving to the US in 2020. The couple recently helped the Youth Power Fund make its official launch by calling up a few of the 26 different honorees who in total will receive $2 million to help fund their projects, and on Wednesday, the fund shared some snippets from those conversations.
“It was a complete surprise. I had no idea I would be speaking with them,” Emma Lembke, the cochair of internet safety advocacy organization Design It For Us, told Vanity Fair. “The duke and the duchess, and all of their work, have been pivotal in moving so many social issues forward and bringing visibility to a lot of important areas, and specifically responsible tech.”
Both Lembke and her fellow cochair Zamaan Qureshi are rising college juniors, but they already have years of experience in advocating for better policy and design when it comes to tech aimed at young people. In February, Lembke became one of the youngest people to ever testify in front of Congress on the subject of technology.
“It’s felt like such a long journey, and it’s just been so inspiring and exciting to see momentum pick up over the past few months,” Lembke said. She added that the Youth Power Fund was a sign that stakeholders from across generations want to talk about how the internet can be better for its younger uses. “I think it will benefit society at large, and it will continue to build a digital ecosystem that will benefit us all.”
In an interview, Qureshi emphasized that even though tech platforms weren’t designed for young people to use, they’ve been using them for years and have a unique perspective on their benefits and harms. “We deserve a seat at the table,” he said. “These are products that are made for us, that are built for our generation, but not with us in mind when it comes to crafting them.”
Design It For Us was founded when Lembke and Qureshi realized that the expertise of the people who grew up on social platforms wasn’t being taken seriously in the places where they were being designed and regulated. “Young people both benefit and can be harmed by unregulated online spaces,” Lembke said. “We work to ask, critically: How can a young person navigate and use the online space in a way that will amplify their ability to connect, to express, and to explore themselves in the world around them?”