Inside Meghan Markle’s return to social media: How she’s protecting her peace amid backlash, cyberbullies
Meghan Markle made her long-awaited return to social media on Wednesday — and this time, she’s taking the necessary precautions to protect her mental health.
The Duchess of Sussex, 43, shared two new posts on her shiny new Instagram page this week: one on New Year’s Day where she was seen frolicking joyfully on the beach, and a second on Thursday where she promoted her new Netflix cooking show.
While the wife of Prince Harry finally took steps to connect with her online fanbase after a years-long social media hiatus, she notably turned off the comments section of her posts — making trolling virtually impossible.
Page Six is exclusively told that the American Riviera Orchard founder is excited to connect directly with an online audience and share her own experiences unfiltered despite disabling the comments.
A source shared that Markle has “engaged in constructive conversations with senior executives at Meta about creating safer and healthier online environments.”
“While there is still work to be done, she feels confident that by returning to Instagram, she can amplify the progress made so far and lead by example in demonstrating the potential for social media to bring joy and positive connection,” the source further explained.
Her returning online presence differs from her days running her now-defunct The Tig lifestyle blog, in which she encouraged her readers to engage in discussion before deleting the website in 2017.
Markle has spoken openly about her many encounters with cyberbullies since she began dating the red-headed royal in 2016. The nasty criticism of the former actress doubled when she married into the royal family two years later.
Just last March, the mom of two recalled being bullied when she was pregnant with her and Harry’s two kids: Prince Archie, 5, and Princess Lilibet, 3.
“The bulk of the bullying and the abuse that I was experiencing in social media and online was when I was pregnant — with Archie and with Lili — and with a newborn with each of them,” she said at a SXSW panel in March 2024.
She added that the hateful words were “not catty” but “cruel.”
The “Suits” alum reportedly even told a group of teens last October that she was “one of the most bullied people in the world.” However, sources later told The Post that Markle “talked about her experience with online bullying but never claimed she was the most bullied person in the world.”
