Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Use Mark Zuckerberg Apologizing Picture

Prince Harry & Meghan Markle are standing behind parents advocating against social media companies ... and they're using a viral Mark Zuckerberg moment to underscore their point.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex shared a statement on the social media Senate hearings from Wednesday to the Archewell Foundation's website -- showing support for the victims and detailing some of their own experiences speaking to families who've gone through this.

In the statement, PH and MM applauded parents standing up against huge social media companies, and added, "The best parenting in the world cannot keep children safe from these platforms" ... all in all, a fairly fluffy, boilerplate statement from the royal couple.

The big news here ... they picked a shot of Zuck from the hearing yesterday as the huge image above their statement -- a pic that captured MZ's surprise apology to parents and victims of child sex exploitation via social media.

As we reported ... Mark was getting grilled during the committee hearing with Senator Josh Hawley peppering him with questions until Zuck was basically forced to turn around and apologize to the crowd at large.

The crowd held up numerous photographs of victims as Mark apologized and made mention of measures he said Meta's taking to stop any other children from becoming victims.

Well, it seems the Sussexes are clearly on the side of the victims and advocates ... unsurprising given their charitable works to combat sex trafficking and child slavery. Plus, they're parents themselves -- and they have a ton of experience dealing with agitators online to boot.