--- title: Melania Trump 'Be Best' Speech Gets Plagiarism Criticism description: Some observers felt that Melania Trump's "Be Best" speech was too similar to the Michelle Obama's initiative. canonical: https://time.com/5268499/melania-trump-cyberbullying-humor/ author: Ashley Hoffman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-05-07T22:34:45.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:52:41.568Z og:title: The Internet Thinks Melania Trump Plagiarized Her 'Be Best' Initiative og:description: Some people feel they've seen and heard this before under Obama og:url: https://time.com/5268499/melania-trump-cyberbullying-humor/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd2e4db23429218cc/69892fc1929fad79e6bf07b1/gettyimages-955720994.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: First Lady Melania Trump Speaks On The Launch Of Her Initiatives In The Rose Garden Of White House og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Internet Thinks Melania Trump Plagiarized Her 'Be Best' Initiative twitter:description: Some people feel they've seen and heard this before under Obama twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd2e4db23429218cc/69892fc1929fad79e6bf07b1/gettyimages-955720994.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # People Have a Lot of Feelings About Melania Trump’s New Cyberbullying Initiative > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=4cfca523-f0de-42df-990c-71c7c97fb2f9&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman May 7, 2018 10:34 PM UTC  WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 07: U.S. President Donald Trump applauds after U.S. first lady Melania Trump spoke in the Rose Garden of the White House May 7, 2018 in Washington, DC. Melania Trump outlined her new initiatives, known as the Be Best program, during the event. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images) WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 07: U.S. President Donald Trump applauds after U.S. first lady Melania Trump spoke in the Rose Garden of the White House May 7, 2018 in Washington, DC. Melania Trump outlined her new initiatives, known as the Be Best program, during the event. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images) Win McNamee—Getty Images by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman May 7, 2018 10:34 PM UTC [First Lady Melania Trump](http://time.com/5268327/melania-trump-first-lady-be-best/) has finally unveiled her formal plan with a new slogan: “Be Best.” The program targets three areas — well-being, combating opioid addiction, and fighting cyberbullying by pushing for positivity across social media platforms — she said at Monday’s Rose Garden event. “As a mother and as first lady, it concerns me that in today’s fast-paced and ever-connected world, children can be less prepared to express or manage their emotions and oftentimes turn to forms of destructive or addictive behavior such as bullying, drug addiction or even suicide,” she said. The plan was ambitious, but some observers online felt it wasn’t entirely hers. For one thing, the slogan “Be Best,” sounded a little too much like Michelle Obama’s “Be Better” answer to Oprah Winfrey’s question at the White House Summit on the United State of Women in 2016. That wasn’t the only aspect of the comprehensive plan that critics felt they’d seen before. The companion pamphlet appears almost entirely copied from the one the Federal Trade Commission released in 2014 under Obama. This isn’t the first time FLOTUS has appeared to [borrow a page or two from her predecessor](http://time.com/4693623/donald-trump-melania-plagiarism-exxonmobil/). In 2016 Republican National Convention, she took a sizable portion in her speech from a speech [Michelle Obama delivered back in 2008](http://time.com/4415511/melania-trump-plagiarized-speech-responses/). The White House has yet to respond to criticism. > [](https://twitter.com/RMac18/status/993596741030047744) > [](https://twitter.com/suejam6/status/993618536680513536) > [](https://twitter.com/Nulli%5FSecunda%5F/status/993603148722950145) > [](https://twitter.com/M3anSho3Gam3/status/993603666367143936) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5268499/melania-trump-cyberbullying-humor/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5268499/melania-trump-cyberbullying-humor/"},"headline":"People Have a Lot of Feelings About Melania Trump’s New Cyberbullying Initiative","datePublished":"2018-05-07T22:34:45.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:52:41.568Z","description":"Some people feel they've seen and heard this before under Obama","url":"https://time.com/5268499/melania-trump-cyberbullying-humor/","keywords":["Newsfeed","politics","viral"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd2e4db23429218cc/69892fc1929fad79e6bf07b1/gettyimages-955720994.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ashley Hoffman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd2e4db23429218cc/69892fc1929fad79e6bf07b1/gettyimages-955720994.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"First Lady Melania Trump Speaks On The Launch Of Her Initiatives In The Rose Garden Of White House","caption":"First Lady Melania Trump Speaks On The Launch Of Her Initiatives In The Rose Garden Of White House","creditText":"Win McNamee—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5268499/melania-trump-cyberbullying-humor/","name":"People Have a Lot of Feelings About Melania Trump’s New Cyberbullying Initiative"}}]}] ```