It's been over a year since Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced they'd be stepping back from their roles as Senior Royals. Since their departure, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have stayed off social media. According to a new report from The Sun, the trolling Meghan faced online was a major factor in their decision.

"It was pretty vile for a while," a source told The Sun about the hate Meghan received before her royal exit. "There are automated tools which help to police the very inappropriate comments getting through and also manual moderation — but there are often thousands of comments. It only takes a couple of people to stir up a really nasty conversation with people being very aggressive. The issue of concern is about how people are treating each other."

Though Harry and Meghan did not have personal Instagram or Twitter accounts at the time, they shared official accounts to promote their charitable work on behalf of Queen Elizabeth and the monarchy. Meghan was the target of 5,200 "hateful and racists" tweets over the course of two months, according to a report from The Sun published in March 2019.

A similar report published in Express echoed these sentiments. "Meghan would be targeted with vile online abuse and staff would spend hours trying to delete thousands of comments," a source told the outlet.

Harry and Meghan didn't immediately address the role hateful social media messages played in their departure after moving to the states. In October 2020, however, the couple spoke out about their experience on the interview platform Teenager Therapy. Meghan described the hate as "almost unsurvivable."

"I'm told that in 2019 I was the most trolled person in the entire world, male or female," she continued. "Now eight months of that, I wasn't even visible. I was on maternity leave or with a baby. But what was able to just be manufactured and churned out, it's almost unsurvivable. That's so big, you can't even think of what that feels like. Because I don't care if you're 15 or 25, if people are saying things about you that aren't true, what that does to your mental and emotional health is so damaging."

For now, Harry and Meghan are choosing to stay off social media. During a recent interview with Fast Company, Prince Harry said they may return at some point in the future. "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 shared.

Photo: Getty