Young leaders working to create safer and more inclusive online spaces have received surprise phone calls from Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan in praise of their efforts.
This week, the couple’s Archewell Foundation joined the Responsible Technology Youth Power Fund advisory committee to launch a $2 million grant for 26 youth-led initiatives advocating for a more equitable and accountable technology ecosystem.
In a special video recorded at the couple’s Montecito, California, home last month, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex sit together as they congratulate a number of the fund’s inaugural beneficiaries. Over the months ahead, each organization will use grant funding to continue their efforts addressing tech-related issues, from protecting human rights and improving education access, to ensuring responsible use of AI and tackling online bullying.
“Thank you for doing everything that you do, our kids are especially grateful … They just don’t know it yet,” Harry jokes to Sneha Revanur, founder of Encode Justice, a global movement pushing for human rights and justice under AI through political advocacy.
“But they will!” Meghan says with a laugh.
Since launching in 2020, Revanur’s organization has championed informed AI policy that confronts the bias, discrimination, and surveillance enabled by systems ranging from facial recognition technology to pretrial risk assessment tools.
And chatting with Tazin Khan—founder of the Cyber Collective, which makes the complex topic of cybersecurity more accessible—Meghan praises the digital security influencer for her efforts. “Really, thank you for all the work you’re doing, it’s huge and it’s making an enormous impact,” she says.
The video marks the Sussexes’ first official public appearance together since their May 16 attendance at the Ms. Foundation Women of Vision Awards in New York. Its focus is one close to both Harry and Meghan’s hearts, as they have dedicated a large part of their foundation’s work to improving safety online.
Social entrepreneur Trisha Prabhu—who founded ReThink, an award-winning app and patented technology that detects and stops potential online hate before damage is done—says the couple’s support and encouragement will help the organization grow.
“It was a surreal and special moment,” she tells Bazaar.com of receiving the call. “It really means so much to have the duke and duchess validating us in our mission.”
Prabhu says the RTYPF grant will help ReThink reach new users beyond the U.S., particularly through its digital literacy curriculum, which equips youth with the knowledge and know-how to become smarter and more responsible online citizens. “I’m really grateful, because the $50,000 we are receiving through this fund will allow us to roll out in the Caribbean,” she says.
At a time when big tech companies continue to drag their feet on making platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, and X (formerly Twitter) safer, ReThink’s approach focuses on what users can do. “[Companies and organizations] were looking at how to support victims of cyberbullying after it happens, which is important, but I wanted to take a more systemic approach and proactively address cyberbullying and empower users to be the best that they can be online and change internet culture,” explains Prabhu, whose work has been commended by MIT and the White House.
During the phone conversation with the Sussexes, Prince Harry told Prabhu, whose own cyberbullying experiences as a young teen inspired her to find solutions: “This is amazing, this is exactly why we do what we do. This is exactly why the Youth Power Fund was created.”
Other grant recipients that received calls from the Sussexes include Log Off, a group working to empower young people to rebuild their relationships with social media; and the Young People’s Alliance, whose student advocates are working at colleges across North Carolina, state legislatures, and on Capitol Hill to amplify youth voices. Archewell is one of 14 U.S.-based nonprofits and organizations who partnered to invest in the fund.
“Societies globally are wrestling with major issues like the youth mental health crisis and the decay of our information environment. What and who can we trust online? Can online spaces be truly safe and affirm wellbeing? And what new systems can we create with, instead of for, young people?” RTYPF co-founder Emma Leiken asked in a statement shared with Bazaar.com. “These questions touch on issues ranging from platform accountability to cybersecurity, privacy, digital literacy, data equity, algorithmic bias, and digital well-being and that’s what this fund's grantees will tackle.”
Omid Scobie is BAZAAR.com’s Royal Editor at Large and has covered the lives and philanthropic work of the younger members of the British Royal Family for over eight years. As well as spearheading exclusive coverage of major royal milestones (including the weddings of both the Cambridges and Sussexes), Scobie has traveled extensively with Harry, Meghan, William and Kate on their engagements in the U.K. and around the world. As ABC News’s Royal Contributor, Scobie is a regular on Good Morning America and host of the network’s forthcoming podcast, The Heir Pod.
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