Melania Trump Reused An Obama-Era Pamphlet For Her New Anti-Cyberbullying Campaign
May 9, 2018 by admin
Filed under Latest Lingerie News
Nat Wood, an associate director with the FTC, said the agency worked with Trump to update and redistribute the earlier edition and that many organizations modify and reprint its materials. Wood added that the FTC was not involved in Be Best beyond revising the booklet.
After BuzzFeed News inquired about the content of the booklet, Be Best’s website changed the language describing it from “a booklet by First Lady Melania Trump and the FTC” to “a FTC booklet, promoted by first lady Melania Trump” (emphasis added). Grisham and Wood did not immediately respond to request for comment on the change.
Wood pointed to changes in the 2018 guide that included new guidelines on how to combat cyberbullying, disable in-app purchases, handle passwords and personally identifiable information, back up files, and use public Wi-Fi, along with a letter from the first lady.
Trump’s brochure stripped out the name of the prior initiative, “Net Cetera,” while also including an introduction from Trump with her photo, signature, and Be Best’s logo.
On Tuesday the White House issued a statement slamming the “opposition media” for lobbing “baseless accusations towards the First Lady and her new initiatives.”
“After giving a strong speech that was met with a standing ovation and positive feedback, the focus from opposition media has been on an education booklet, “Talking with Kids About Being Online” produced by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in 2009,” the statement reads. “Mrs. Trump agreed to add Be Best branding and distribute the booklet in an effort to use her platform to amplify the positive message within.”
The statement ended by urging the media to “Be Best” in their own professions.
The first lady also thanked a slew of technology companies on Monday for their assistance in developing the platform, including Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, Snap, and Twitter. Representatives for those companies met with the first lady in March during a roundtable discussion about technology and child safety that drew some press attention at the time.
But it is unclear what those companies contributed to the platform beyond what was lifted from the FTC’s 2014 pamphlet. Facebook, Twitter, Snap, and Amazon declined to comment. Google and Microsoft did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
An Amazon account belonging to the company’s policy team tweeted that it is “excited to partner” with the first lady to “promote positive experiences for children online” on Monday after Trump’s announcement. However, it did not provide details on the nature of its partnership.
