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{"id":24445,"date":"2026-06-17T19:47:47","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T19:47:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/pence-backed-think-tank-joins-push-to-keep-kids-safety-bills-out-of-ai-package\/"},"modified":"2026-06-17T19:47:47","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T19:47:47","slug":"pence-backed-think-tank-joins-push-to-keep-kids-safety-bills-out-of-ai-package","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/pence-backed-think-tank-joins-push-to-keep-kids-safety-bills-out-of-ai-package\/","title":{"rendered":"Pence-backed think tank joins push to keep kids\u2019 safety bills out of AI package"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>More than a dozen groups including former Vice President Mike Pence\u2019s Advancing American Freedom are urging Senate Commerce Committee leaders to reject efforts to attach kids\u2019 online safety measures to a national artificial intelligence framework, <a href=\"https:\/\/subscriber.politicopro.com\/f\/?id=0000019e-d6f0-d4f4-a9fe-d6f9361c0000\" target=\"_blank\">according to a letter<\/a> shared exclusively with Blue Light News.<\/p>\n<p>The groups argue that the proposed measures could undermine users\u2019 free speech rights while creating new risk to privacy and data security. Their push comes as lawmakers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/06\/04\/obernolte-trahan-ai-bill-lands-on-the-hill-00949920\" target=\"_blank\">weigh broader AI legislation<\/a>, and follows reports last week that Sen. <a href=\"https:\/\/directory.politicopro.com\/congress\/member\/614082b6-0d2a-42da-8195-ae746898ce94\" target=\"_blank\">Marsha Blackburn<\/a> (R-Tenn.) is working with the White House to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/06\/11\/white-houses-ai-state-preemption-kids-safety-00958020?utm_medium=twitter&amp;utm_source=dlvr.it\" target=\"_blank\">shore up support for a kids\u2019 safety package<\/a> that could ultimately preempt some state laws on AI.<\/p>\n<p>The Blackburn-led measure is expected to include the Senate version of the Kids Online Safety Act, which includes a \u201cduty of care\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/legislation.politicopro.com\/bill\/US_119_HR_7757\/pro-bill-analysis\/0000019e-52d3-d83d-abbf-d6ff02380000\" target=\"_blank\">requiring companies<\/a> to design their products with an eye toward preventing harm to children, the NO FAKES Act and the App Store Accountability Act. It\u2019s not yet clear how aggressively it would preempt state action on narrow issues such as verifying users\u2019 ages on social media.<\/p>\n<p>Think tanks including the libertarian R Street Institute, the Taxpayers Protection Alliance, and industry group NetChoice, are among the 13 total signatories. They take issue primarily with ASAA, which would require app store platforms such as Google and Apple to verify users\u2019 ages, and KOSA.<\/p>\n<p>The coalition is alarmed by age verification requirements that could require users to submit personal information to digital databases vulnerable to data breaches and hacks. It also takes issue with parental consent provisions, which would \u201cinevitably require even more intrusive data gathering to prove both the identity of the parent and his or her status as the child\u2019s legal guardian,\u201d the letter reads.<\/p>\n<p>KOSA is also problematic, according to the coalition, because of its duty of care provision. It argues this would infringe on users\u2019 First Amendment speech rights by \u201crequiring online platforms to suppress certain kinds of content.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Meta helped kill KOSA two years ago after raising similar free speech concerns with the bill to Speaker <a href=\"https:\/\/directory.politicopro.com\/member\/242539\" data-person-id=\"242539\">Mike Johnson<\/a>, though it has since dropped its opposition because Blackburn\u2019s package is expected to include language preempting state AI laws, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/live-updates\/2026\/06\/16\/congress\/meta-opposition-kosa-00964605\" target=\"_blank\">as POLITICO exclusively reported Tuesday<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>More than a dozen groups including former Vice President Mike Pence\u2019s Advancing American Freedom are urging Senate Commerce Committee leaders to reject efforts to attach kids\u2019 online safety measures to a national artificial intelligence framework, according to a letter shared exclusively with Blue Light News. The groups argue that the proposed measures could undermine users\u2019 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24445"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24445\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}