Crucial reason Meghan Markle switched comments off for Instagram return

The Duchess of Sussex made her triumphant return to social media this week after a seven year absence, but one notable difference about her account was the inability to comment on her posts

When Meghan Markle returned to Instagram on New Year’s Day, royal fans were quick to celebrate her debut post on her new account @meghan, which marked her first solo return to the platform in seven years. However while many fans were itching to applaud the Duchess of Sussex and engage with the video she had shared in which she wrote ‘2025’ in the sand, eagle eyed followers were quick to notice that the royal had disabled the ability to comment on the post.

Indeed, the same situation was also present on her second post, a trailer for her new Netflix series ,With Love, Meghan, which debuts on the streaming service on January 15 - effectively eliminating her ability to drum up fan engagement for the community she was so desperately trying to inspire and revive since stepping away from social media when she became engaged to Prince Harry.

Yet while this may seem like an odd choice for someone who is keen to promote their latest ventures, the reason behind Meghan’s decision to turn off commenting, is actually the Duchess’ savvy mode of self-preservation, as she has previously discussed at length her struggles as the “most trolled woman in the world ” and the cruel online bullying she had previously faced.

As reported by PEOPLE, during an October 2020 appearance on the Teenager Therapy podcast, Meghan spoke about being the “most trolled person in the entire world” the year prior.

“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,” she said, adding later in the episode “we all know what it feels like to have our feelings hurt.”

Meghan also openly discussed the vicious nature of the trolling in her 2022 Netflix documentary Harry & Meghan, when she tearfully recalled the escalation of the comments online and how it had even at its most extreme, lead to death threats. “I think for people to really understand, you know, when you plant a seed that is so hateful, what it can grow into,” 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,” she added. “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.’ ”

“And I was just like, ‘Okay.’ That's, like, what's actually out in the world because of people creating hate,” she continued. “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?”

“That night, to be up and down in the middle of the night, looking down my hallway, like, ‘Are we safe? Are the doors locked? Is security on?’ Is every — that's real. ‘Are my babies safe?’ And you've created it for what? Because you're bored or because it sells your papers or it makes you feel better about your own life? It's real what you're doing. And that's the piece I don't think people fully understand.”

At the height of the trolling back in 2021, a Twitter analytics service Bot Sentinel found that Harry and Meghan were specifically targeted in a by a “brazenly co-ordinated hate network” with just 83 accounts responsible for 70 per cent of all harassment aimed at the couple, which included racial abuse.

Between those accounts, the estimated reach for the abuse was around 17 million users.

Just one year prior, Meghan had already expressed her concerns over the amplification of toxic messages and abuse, when she discussed what it would take to create a more humane form of technology, and one that tackled misinformation.

Using her own experience as an example, Meghan told attendees at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women summit, “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.”

“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,” Meghan continued.

Rather than be controlled by trolls, Meghan has opted to eliminate their access to her entirely, and by restricting the ability to comment on her posts, she is now taking ownership of the latest chapter of her life, which she said is her “chapter of joy.”

Focusing on things she feels passionate about and enjoying every moment of it, the Duchess previously revealed how she views the upcoming year during her 2024 Colombia tour.

“My intentionality is to enjoy this chapter and to be able to move through every piece of that as best as I can,” Meghan said while in the South American country.