First lady Melania Trump is making steps toward a campaign against cyberbullying, hosting tech leaders at the White House next week, her office confirmed on Tuesday.
The meeting, first reported by The Washington Post — will include representatives from Amazon, Facebook, Google, Twitter and Snap. It is set for Tuesday and is part of Trump’s ongoing effort to have conversations about issues affecting children, including how they handle social media, East Wing communications director Stephanie Grisham told CNN.
“Mrs. Trump has simply asked for a meeting to discuss one of the many things that impacts children — as she has done many times in the past, on several different topics,” Grisham said.
While the first lady has yet to unveil a formal platform, she’s hinted that issues affecting children will be key to her efforts.
Speaking to spouses of world leaders at a luncheon at the US Mission to the United Nations last September, Trump said she was focused on the message and content children are exposed to through social media, noting that outreach to leaders in the tech realm would be part of her strategy.
“No children should ever feel hungry, stalked, frightened, terrorized, bullied, isolated or afraid with nowhere to turn,” she said. “I’m asking leaders on social media whose target market for their products and platforms is children, as well as community and educational leaders, to join me in this fight for the hopes and dreams of our children.”
More recently, Trump told the spouses of US governors at a White House luncheon that combating “negative social media interactions” was a priority.
“It is important that, as adults, we take the lead and the responsibility in helping our children manage the many issues they are facing today. This means encouraging positive habits with social media and technology; even limiting time online and understanding the content they are exposed to on a daily basis,” she said in brief remarks last month, calling on the spouses to “join me today and commit to promoting values such as encouragement, kindness, compassion, and respect in our children.”
However, her husband, President Donald Trump, has come under fire for the example he sets himself through his social media platforms.
Asked by CNN last year if the first lady feels the need to reconcile criticism of the President’s Twitter behavior with what she’s trying to accomplish, Grisham said flatly, “no.”
“Mrs. Trump is independent and acts independently from her husband,” Grisham told CNN at the time. “She does what she feels is right and knows that she has a real opportunity through her role as first lady to have a positive impact on the lives of children.”
