Despite the seemingly constant barrage of personal attacks Donald Trump engages in with journalists, heads of state or private citizens via Twitter, the First Lady persists with her anti-cyber bullying campaign.
Thanks to a report from GeekWire, we have glimpse into a recent visit from the First Lady Melania Trump who sat with Microsoft president Brad Smith to discuss how the two could leverage their respective influences and resources to help address online safety and accessibility.
Mrs. Trump visited Microsoft’s office in Redmond to learn how the company’s online efforts could presumably work to help promote her Be Best campaign.
Part of the Be Best campaign is directed at raising awareness of online well-being for children as well as partially addressing the opioid epidemic sweeping dense populations through the US.
During her 30-minute visit, Mrs. Trump was met by Smith as well as Microsoft VP Dave McCarthy, head of Xbox Phil Spencer, Microsoft safety officer Jacqueline Beauchere, and chief finance officer Amy Hood.
Microsoft executives showcased some Xbox related hardware and software that empowers parents to protect their children’s gameplay online as well as other company tools that help protect kids while on the internet, to which Trump added, “We need to educate the parents as well. Maybe some of them, they don’t even know about it and they just let their kids play. This is very, very informative.”
Smith also addressed the seeming hypocrisy of Mrs. Trump’s visit to discuss her Be Best anti-cyber bullying campaign amid her husbands online behavior with a diplomatic response issued later.
“We’ve always said that we’ll partner where we can, we’ll stand apart where we should. We have days when we disagree with this administration, just as we’ve had days where we’ve disagreed with other administrations, but today was a day where we could stand together to underscore an important message.”
The short visit looked to address the valley between parents and their children regarding the transparency of online activity. When children and parents keep an open dialogue about activities and protections taken to ensure a better well-being online, the easier it is to identify instances of malfeasance and cyber bullying by both parties.
