Right now, we are facing the biggest threat to child online safety in thirty years. Namely: the threat that the states will be prevented from legislating or regulating AI and child online safety.
Fighting this has been like fighting a hydra—cut off one head and two more appear. Last July, we celebrated the near unanimous defeat of a 10-year moratorium on state A.I. laws. But since then, the monster has reared its heads several more times. And now, it seems closer than ever to prevailing and wreaking havoc.
On Monday, President Trump declared that he plans to sign an Executive Order this week, which would likely penalize states for regulating artificial intelligence. Shortly before that, 19 child online safety bills were brought forth in the House of Representatives, 11 of which sought federal pre-emption for any related state laws—in other words, all existing state laws on child online safety would be declared illegal, and no new state laws could be passed.
The signing of an Executive Order or pre-emption of state AI legislation would be utterly disastrous for children. NCOSE and allies are working double time behind the scenes to stop these imminent threats.
We urge you: PLEASE let your Representatives and the President know that you do NOT want state online safety laws to be erased or penalized!! Take action below.
Tell the House Not to Stop States from Protecting Kids Online!
Banning State A.I. Laws Would be Fatal to Children
We are only at the beginning of the A.I. revolution. And already, children are dying.
There have been several cases of A.I. chatbots grooming children to die by suicide, engage in self-harm, isolate from friends and family who could have offered support, and more. The threat is not theoretical—it is real and it is lethal.
Against this backdrop, many states have been working hard and working quickly to pass legislation that would protect their constituents. The last thing we should do is stop that work.
The desire to stop states from legislating AI has been framed as an attempt to prevent a “patchwork” of differing state legislation that would be too difficult for the tech industry to keep up with. But this argument springs from the tech industry’s disingenuous lobbying.
Most industries in America have to comply with differing state legislation. Why should it be so difficult for the tech industry to do so, when they are the most powerful industry in the world, worth trillions of dollars? The truth is, the tech industry is already extremely well-positioned to comply with state legislation, because they already geolocate their users to serve targeted ads and collect user data based on location. Certainly, it would be a simple task to adjust safety settings based on state. It is not that the tech industry can’t do this—it’s that they don’t want to.
There is no legitimate reason for President Trump to sign the Executive Order pre-empting state A.I. laws, and we urgently implore him not to.
11 Pre-emption Bills Would Erase Virtually All Progress on Child Online Safety
As if the Executive Order banning state A.I. laws were not terrifying enough, eleven bills pending before the House go even further. These bills seek not only to forbid state laws on A.I., but any state laws related to online child safety.
To put in perspective how terrifying this is: Congress has not passed a single federal bill for child online safety in twenty five years. States have. But now, all the progress that has been made at the state level could disappear as well.
If even one of these eleven bills passes, that is the situation we are left with.
We all need to get involved in this fight. If you have not already signed the action to oppose pre-emption of state laws on A.I. or online safety, please do so now. And, importantly, please SHARE this action far and wide with your networks!
