Sweetheart deal could endanger KOSA and COPPA by allowing Big Tech CEOs to ask Trump Administration for waivers
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, The Tech Oversight Project calls out the Big Tech giveaways in Senator Ted Cruz’s AI SANDBOX bill, which would give unprecedented authority for the Trump Administration to trade away protections for children and seniors and dole out favors to Big Tech companies like Google, Apple, Meta, Amazon, and OpenAI.
As currently written, the bill would:
- Grant the Trump Administration sweeping new powers to directly pick winners and losers in the AI industry – ensuring that Big Tech CEOs donating to Trump play by one set of rules, and innovative start-ups – “little Tech” – play by a different one.
- Give the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) the power to overrule independent agencies like the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), charged with protecting children online and stopping online scams on Big Tech platforms.
- Usurp Congressional authority by creating a Congressional Review Act-like system that bypasses the Senate filibuster for stripping federal rules designed to protect people from unaccountable Big Tech companies.
“Beating China in the AI race and spurring economic growth in the U.S. doesn’t mean we need to recklessly trade away rights that protect everyday Americans from Big Tech’s predatory business practices and algorithms. As written, Ted Cruz’s AI bill is a sweetheart deal for Big Tech CEOs and could negate existing protections for kids, like COPPA, and potentially new ones, like KOSA, by allowing Big Tech companies to ask their friends in the Trump Administration for a waiver,” said Sacha Haworth, Executive Director of The Tech Oversight Project. “The only innovation happening in this bill is creating new ways for the Trump Administration to strip away standards that hold Big Tech accountable for violating privacy, endangering kids online, and letting scammers rip off seniors and veterans.”