California law may explain Meghan's decision to hide her children's faces online

As the world continues to wonder whether a public portrait of Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet will ever emerge, a new report has offered a potentially surprising explanation for why their mother, Meghan, consistently keeps their faces out of public view — and sources suggest it has nothing to do with a desire for privacy.

The information has come via an unnamed source who spoke to Sky News.

The California legal loophole

The source pointed to a specific piece of Californian legislation as a possible driver behind Meghan's approach.

"It turns out that California has a law, the 'Child Vlogger Bill of Rights,' that requires parents to put money into a trust fund for kids shown on social media for monetization purposes. However, there is a loophole that if you don't show the kids' faces, you are exempt from this law," the source said.

A pattern seen across Meghan's social media

The behaviour described in the report has been consistently evident across both Meghan's personal and brand Instagram accounts. Whether she is posting personal snapshots or brand-related content, the children's faces are routinely obscured — through blurring, cropping, the use of stickers, or by capturing only the backs of their heads.

For those unfamiliar with Meghan's publicly stated philosophy on protecting her children, she has long employed creative methods of censorship to keep Archie and Lilibet's faces out of the public eye, framing the practice as a matter of parental responsibility.

Meghan's own words on children and social media

The Duchess also offered a glimpse into her personal views on the subject during a speech titled No Child Lost to Social Media, which she delivered at the World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, earlier this year in May.