Meghan Markle begins Colombia tour with strong statement

Meghan Markle made a strong statement as she addressed ‘cruel’ social media trolls during her Colombia tour with husband Prince Harry.

At an event about combating online hate in Colombia, the Duchess of Sussex urged social media users to think of what their grandparents and parents might say before trolling someone on the internet.

Meghan, who is in the country for a four-day tour, during which she and Harry will be backing projects aimed at safeguarding young people from online harm, asked people to be responsible.

Speaking at the Responsible Digital Future forum in Bogota, Meghan said, “Maybe your grandmother used to say it to you, ‘if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.’”

“The digital age has almost created a culture where if you don’t have anything cruel to say, don't say anything at all,” she further added, as per video available on Instagram.

Meghan continued: “And that is fundamentally changing how we move through the world, how we connect with each other, and I think, as we continue with this work, we continue learning and investing and grant giving to young adults, we can be changemakers in this space.

“A lot of it is how we as adults role model that behaviour both offline, and certainly how we role model online. As parents we have that responsibility, as global citizens we have that responsibility, but as digital citizens we have that responsibility to model how we want our children to be raised, and the world which we want them to be raised in.

“It now includes the digital world. It’s not going away, so it’s how we can use what we know and continue to push the envelope to keep all of us safer, specifically our children.”