White House Pushes Kids' Safety Bills as Cover for Blocking State AI Laws
The White House met this week with children's advocates and tech companies to build support for legislation that would preempt state AI laws, packaging the effort alongside bills focused on protecting minors online. The strategy represents the latest attempt by the Trump administration to override state regulations after previous efforts stalled.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) is leading negotiations on a package that would include her Kids Online Safety Act, the App Store Accountability Act, and provisions preempting certain state laws. White House officials including Michael Kratsios, director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, met Monday with representatives from four children's advocacy groups to gauge support.
The proposal remains unsettled on a fundamental question: whether to block a broad range of state AI rules or focus narrowly on specific issues like age verification for social media users.
What the White House is Proposing
The package under discussion would require tech companies to mitigate harms to children on their platforms and force app stores and developers to verify user ages. The White House also asked advocates about preempting some state laws related to children's online safety.
Children's safety groups told the White House they would support the package only if it includes stronger regulation of AI chatbots, such as provisions in the GUARD Act. Some advocates also pushed back on the scope of preemption, saying they would only accept federal rules that replace-rather than simply override-state protections.
"Federal preemption is a normal part of our constitutional order, but it's not normal to trade a kids' safety bill for anything broader than that," said one conservative kids' safety advocate who attended the meetings.
Tech Industry Alignment Problem
The White House also met Monday with representatives from Apple, Meta, Google, and xAI to discuss pairing a kids' safety package with preemption. All four companies support blocking state AI laws, preferring a single federal standard over what they call a patchwork of state regulations.
Getting agreement will be difficult. Apple and Google have opposed the App Store Accountability Act, while Meta has actively supported it. A tech lobbyist familiar with the meetings called the proposal "a surprise given concerns raised by industry about these bills."
Democratic Skepticism
Any legislation that preempts state laws faces a steep climb in Congress. Bipartisan support is likely essential, particularly in the Senate, but Democrats have shown little appetite for blocking states from regulating AI or protecting children.
Rep. Lori Trahan (D-Mass.), who co-authored a separate bipartisan preemption proposal last week that received a cool reception, said efforts led by Blackburn sound "partisan" and unlikely to pass.
The question now is whether Republicans would support a kids' safety package without preemption, or whether Democrats would back one that includes it. "I don't know the answer to those questions," said Jon Schweppe, a conservative adviser who attended the White House meeting.
A White House official said Monday's meetings were preliminary and intended "to gather feedback from stakeholders," adding that "nothing was agreed to."
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