DONALD Trump has expressed an interest in a possible social media ban to protect young Americans, his daughter-in-law has revealed.
It follows a tough Australian ban for under-16s and comes after dozens of US states blocked the use of cellphones in schools.
Lara Trump, the wife of Donald Trump‘s son Eric, spoke about the president’s curiosity in regards to social media bans for teens.
The Fox News host told the New York Post that she had spoken to her father-in-law about the negative impact of TikTok and other platforms on young people.
And the president, 79, has shown a keen “interest” in the effects, she added.
Lara, who has two children aged under ten, has a strict “no-screen policy” at home.
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“They’re on nothing at all. That has been something that we’ve established,” she said.
“And it frustrates me too, because I go out to dinner and I see all these kids at tables — and what are they doing?
“They’re just watching the screen.
“Eric and I, a long time ago, we’re like, ‘We’re not going to do that.’
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“So they bring a football with them, or they bring a coloring book with them or something, or they talk to us.
“So that one day when they’re adults, imagine that, they’re going to have the ability to converse with people instead of look at a screen.”
Lara, 43, told the Post that while she is generally against “regulating things, I would be very happy with a little bit of regulation in this space, just personally as a parent.”
She recalled discussing a tough ban introduced in Australia with her father-in-law.
Last December Australia became the first country to ban social media for children under 16.
Many parents and child advocates applauded the move.
But major tech firms and free-speech advocates opposed it.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said it would make “an enormous difference” to the safeguarding of children during such a vulnerable time in their lives.
Instagram, Facebook, Threads, Snapchat, YouTube, TikTok, Kick, Reddit, Twitch and X were all banned.
The new law was aimed at protecting children from addictive algorithms, online pedophiles, and online bullies.
Albanese suggested kids could instead read books, take up sport or learn a new instrument.
Lara, who presents a My View show on Fox, said that she had spoken to the president about how kids are easily distracted by social media, and become addicted to scrolling.
“When I talk to him about the studies that I’ve read and the way that a kid looks at a screen and their dopamine and their oxytocin and all these feel-good chemicals are firing,” Lara said today.
“And then you take the screen away, and those all go away.
“Well, how are they ever going to get back to that in just regular life without a screen? They almost don’t.”
Ironically, social media has become a key tool of governing for Trump’s administration.
And his granddaughter, Kai Madison Trump, 18, has been a social media star for more than a year.
The keen golfer now has a whopping 2.7 million followers on Instagram – gaining hundreds of thousands of fans after Trump won his second presidential term.
Kai has more than 6 million followers across all her social media channels.
“With a growing social media following and close family ties to the White House, Kai Trump looks set to be a major Gen Z player in politics and the influencer world,” reported the Independent newspaper in the UK last April.
The president is also “chronically online as any member of Gen Z,” noted Associated Press last October.
He founded Truth Social, a social media platform, after he was banned from Twitter – now X – following the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Just last month Trump claimed that he had saved TikTok after a deal was agreed that keeps the app running for around 200 million Americans.
In January it was also revealed that his long-awaited flashy mobile is finally set to launch.
The Trump Mobile T1 phone features an “American-proud design” in a bold gold colour and the USA flag etched on it.
Lara’s comments follow a bid to prohibit the use of mobile devices during standard school hours across the U.S.
Wisconsin hopes to follow the lead of 38 other states that have already enacted similar restrictions.
Florida was the first state to pass a law regulating the use of cellphones in schools in 2023.
Meanwhile, in the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has recently unveiled plans for an Australia-style ban.
A nationwide consultation will look at setting a new minimum age for social media, with a potential complete ban on under-16s.