Prince Harry is against a social media ban for children.

The Duke of Sussex, 40, has son Archie, five, and three-year-old daughter Lilibet with his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, 43.

Despite the couple’s famous protection of their children’s privacy, the father-of-two has declared barring youngsters from platforms such as X and Instagram is a bad idea as it could spark family arguments and bullying by classmates.

He told New York Times‘ columnist Andrew Ross Sorkin at the newspaper’s DealBook Summit on Wednesday (local time) he thought companies should instead be subjected to more rigorous rules about transparency and accountability about to their policies over children’s use of their social media offerings.

Harry declared posting online had been “intentionally” engineered to be “addictive”, saying banning or axing it “creates all sort of problems”.

“I try to think at these things through the lens as a dad. It’s not a coincidence that the world has become more volatile and more divided since social media has been around for 20 years,” he said.

Harry, who was in New York without wife Meghan Markle, also used the event to declare he was “enjoying” life in the US too much to ever return to Britain.

“I very much enjoy living here and bringing up my kids here,” he said.

“It’s a part of my life that I never thought I was going to live and it feels as though it’s the life that my mum wanted for me.”

Harry said there were activities he “undoubtedly wouldn’t be able to do in the UK” with his children – citing concerns about his security after his royal protection was scaled back following his US move. He is still fighting in the British courts for it to be restored.

“I should’ve never had security removed in the first place,” he said.

“But the disclosure process has been troubling and enlightening and I just have to now sit and wait until April.”

He said his focus now was on “being the best husband and the best dad that I can be”.

Harry and Markle moved to Montecito, California, in the northern summer of 2020, months after quitting as working senior royals.

The duke has been on a string of solo trips back to the UK this year, although Meghan is not believed to have returned since the funeral of the late Queen Elizabeth in late 2022.

His remarks came amid reports he faced the “strong possibility” his US immigration documents may be made public following Donald Trump’s presidential election victory.

Harry has been at the centre of demands for months by the Heritage Foundation think tank to have his visa application records revealed after he admitted in his 2023 memoir Spare to using recreational drugs. That is something he would have been required to disclose in his immigration documents.

-with AAP