Prince Harry open to return to social media months after Meghan Markle compared it to drugs

Prince Harry is discussing his plans to come back to social media platforms, just months after his wife Meghan Markle claimed she won't be making a return to it.

While Meghan Markle had listed the harmful effects of social media while comparing it to drugs, Prince Harry is praising it for offering "a means of connecting and community." Speaking with Fast Company about the impact of the digital world in an interview published on Friday, the Duke of Sussex refuted the reports that he and Meghan were quitting social media for good and revealed they might even return to it at some point.

"It's funny you should ask because ironically, we woke up one morning a couple of weeks ago to hear that a Rupert Murdoch newspaper said we were evidently quitting social media. That was 'news' to us, bearing in mind we have no social media to quit, nor have we for the past 10 months," the 36-year-old said. Harry and Meghan haven't been on social media since they left as senior members of the British royal family and shut their Sussex Royal Instagram handle on March 31 last year. They have never used Facebook and Twitter.

The couple has since then advocated for social media reforms, but Prince Harry admits that there are several upsides to the platform as well. He said: "We need to hear each other's stories and be able to share our own. That's part of the beauty of life. And don't get me wrong; I'm not suggesting that a reform of the digital space will create a world that's all rainbows and sunshine, because that's not realistic, and that, too, isn't life."

When asked if he and Meghan are planning to return to social media, the British royal said it might be a possibility in the future, but noted they aren't thinking about it at the moment.

"We will revisit social media when it feels right for us — perhaps when we see more meaningful commitments to change or reform — but right now we've thrown much of our energy into learning about this space and how we can help," he said.

Harry and Meghan had also expressed support to the Stop Hate for Profit campaign in June last year, a movement that asked for a boycott of Facebook advertising over uncensored online hate speech.

Harry also believes that social media played a major role in the recent violent riots at the US Capitol. He said: "There was a literal attack on democracy in the United States, organized on social media, which is an issue of violent extremism."