The year 2025 started out well for fans of Meghan Markle. Indeed, the Duchess finally returned to Instagram, after deleting her own profile back in 2018, when she married Prince Harry. Since then, she had appeared on the couple's charity Archewell account and their @SussexRoyal account back when they were working royals, but this is her first autonomous account in seven years.
Discover our latest podcast
However, fans were quick to notice that the Duchess had disabled a special Instagram feature. Why did she decide to do that?
Meghan Markle returns to Instagram
On 1 January 2025, the Duchess reactivated her account and she immediately shared a video showing herself writing '2025' in the sand, on a public beach in Montecito, where she now lives with Prince Harry and their two children.
After officially returning to Instagram on the first day of the year, Meghan Markle used her account to share information about her several upcoming projects. On 2 January 2025, she posted a trailer for her new Netflix documentary entitled With Love, Meghan, which will come out on 4 March. She also recently posted about her decision to rename her lifestyle brand 'American Riviera Orchard' to 'As ever'
Everytime she decides post an update, her fans and the media go wild with endless commentary about what she has said or done. However, on Meghan's own Instagram channel, there is no room for comments, both positive or negative, or any discussion.
Indeed, Meghan Markle has chose to disable her Instagram comments since the relaunch of her account, and there could be a very specific reason behind it.
Why has Meghan Markle disabled her Instagram comments?
Meghan Markle has never directly addressed her decision to turn off the comments section on her Instagram page, however she has spoken about the hate she receives online many times. This could be the possible reason she has opted out of receiving comments.
When Prince Harry and Meghan Markle left the Royal family, and moved to the United States, the Duchess opened up about the toll of social media on her mental health. In October 2020, she spoke to the Teenager Therapy podcast, explaining she had been the 'most trolled person in the entire world'. She said:
I don’t care if you’re 15 or you’re 25, if people are saying things about you that aren’t true, what that does to your mental and emotional health is so damaging.
During the couple's Netflix documentary, entitled Harry & Meghan, the Duchess also addressed the online hate she had been receiving for years, which included death threats. She said:
Just a couple of days ago, I was going through the manual for our security team at home, and on one of the pages that I happened to flip to, it was about online monitoring. And they're like, ‘If you see a tweet like this, please report it to the head of security immediately.’ And it just said: ‘Meghan just needs to die. Someone needs to kill her. Maybe it should be me.’
She continued, explaining how the threats made her feel scared, not only for herself, but also for her two children:
I'm a mom. That's my real life. And that's the piece when you see it and you go, 'You are making people want to kill me. It's not just a tabloid. It's not just some story. You are making me scared.' Right?
In 2021, Twitter (now X) analytics service Bot Sentinel revealed that the couple had been targeted by a 'brazenly coordinated' harassment campaign online, which was mostly based on racist comments. Speaking to Fortune's Most Powerful Women virtual summit in 2020, Meghan Markle explained:
If you look back at anything I’ve said, what ends up being inflammatory is people’s interpretation of it. But if you listen to what I actually say, it’s not controversial.
She continued, saying:
When you look at what these platforms are capable of with that reach, and what that propels in terms of trolling … You can either train people to be cruel, or you can train people to be kind. It’s really that simple.
Read more:
Meghan Markle renames lifestyle brand: Why 'American Riviera Orchard' is now ‘As Ever’
Invictus Games highlights Prince Harry and Meghan's strong bond: 'They are genuine'
Sources used:
Instagram: @meghan
People: Meghan Markle Turns Off Instagram Comments — and Here’s Why It Matters
