Issue One condemns AI moratorium for allowing Big Tech “to operate in a vacuum of accountability”

In response to the Trump administration’s executive order yesterday directing the Attorney General to establish a task force whose sole responsibility is suing states that have passed AI consumer protection laws after the insertion of sweeping AI preemption language failed to make it into the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), Issue One Policy Lead for Technology Reform Liana Keesing offered the following statement:

“Powerful technology companies will fight tooth and nail to preserve their ability to operate in a vacuum of accountability. After spending millions of dollars on lobbying — including massive donations for the new White House ballroom — Big Tech has successfully leveraged those around the president to pass a federal moratorium that aims to wipe out bipartisan AI safeguards passed in both blue and red states. These are laws aimed at curbing deepfake child abuse, AI-driven scams, discriminatory price-fixing, and other harms that Americans overwhelmingly want addressed.

“Rather than respond to this clear demand for public protections, the Trump administration’s executive order directs the Attorney General to target nearly every existing state AI consumer protection law, dismantling the only functioning guardrails we currently have at the very moment AI-related risks are accelerating.

“It is especially troubling that this process elevates the influence of individuals like White House AI and crypto czar David Sacks, who maintains direct financial stakes in multiple AI companies, to weigh in on which state protections should survive. That is an egregious conflict of interest, and it underscores the extent to which members of industry are shaping policy outcomes that affect every American.

“To be clear: The most dangerous AI outcomes stem from underregulation, not overregulation. These companies behave like 21st century robber barons, prioritizing short-term profit and shareholder value while leaving our national security, our children, our economy, and our democracy exposed. We cannot allow the most powerful companies in the world to rewrite the rules to suit themselves while putting the rest of us, and our future, at risk.”

Background

This is not the first attempt by Congress or the president to enact an AI moratorium. In recent weeks, Issue One worked with former Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel to publish an opinion piece in The Atlantic about the harms of limiting states’ ability to regulate AI, and Issue One Action mobilized thousands of constituents to urge Congress to strip preemption language from a must-pass defense bill, an effort that stalled following opposition from both sides of the aisle. Earlier this year, Issue One also helped defeat a similar provision in the reconciliation package (H.R. 1). The provision collapsed in an overwhelming 99-1 Senate vote — a decisive win for the American people and our democracy.

That earlier proposal would have prohibited states from enforcing or passing laws related to AI and social media algorithms. States that refused to comply would have faced the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding critical to supporting hospitals, schools, local governments, and underserved communities.