How Harvard graduates reacted to Jacinda Ardern's keynote speech

The Prime Minister has confirmed she will meet President Joe Biden at the White House while she is in the United States on the day she wowed graduating students in Massachusetts.

Jacinda Ardern made the announcement at Harvard University after using a keynote speech to call out social media companies for spreading disinformation.

Smiles and waves, caps and gowns, a lot of Latin - all the classics of a Harvard graduation.

And the New Zealand Prime Minister - now Dr Jacinda Ardern, with an honorary law degree - was there to give the commencement address to the Class of 2022.

"There are some moments in life that make the world feel small and connected. This is not one of them," she said.

Ardern told the crowd of the laws New Zealand had passed, banning military style semi-automatics and assault rifles, and the sea of crimson gowns erupted with emotion.

Beside her was feminist legend Gloria Steinham, and the crowd knew abortion rights are likely about to be taken away by the Supreme Court.

Then, standing at the birthplace of Facebook, Ardern called out social media.

"The time has come for social media companies and other online providers to recognise their power and to act on it."

The speech struck a chord with Harvard graduates.

"It was wonderful, it was one of my favourite speeches from the ceremony," one person told Newshub.

"We're still having dialogues about gun violence and it's time to act on them," said another.

A third said she "hit it on the head with the stuff that's been going on" while another added that "you could feel the character come out in her, in that she's been there and done that".

But little did they know, all wasn't exactly going to plan.

"My teleprompter malfunctioned fairly consistently through the speech today - about every 20 seconds the speech would disappear entirely," Ardern said.

But all that paled into insignificance with the announcement she would be meeting US President Joe Biden next Tuesday.

She's headed back to Washington DC for the chief to chief meeting.

"In this fraught time of global politics, when we have not only a pandemic, we have the climate crisis, we have conflict for us to be engaging for like-minded partners like the United States."

There's quite a lot to discuss.