The Fight to Bring Safety Standards and Accountability to the Digital World

0:00 Speaker 1 Let’s go back to the great state of Tennessee. And with us today is Senator Marshall Blackburn and Senator there’s so many things coming on Sunday morning. What would you like to talk about.

0:12 Speaker 2 Well, one of the things we’re going to see this next week is our Kids Online Safety Act is going to be up once again in our Commerce Committee and we’re going to have a hearing Wednesday morning and our markup and we’re going to move that bill forward. We are looking forward to getting that across the finish line.

0:37 It came out of the Senate ninety one to three last year, so this year we’re trying it again and pushing it to the President’s desk for signature. What the Kids Online Safety Act would do is put a duty of care and a safety by design standard on the social media and AI platforms to say you have to

1:04 guarantee that this is safe for kids to use. Now, we know that a lot of kids have been exposed to drug dealers and sex traffickers, and they’re exposed to bullying and eating disorders on these platforms. And what we have learned is that the virtual space is the only industrial sector that does not have safety standards so making

1:39 certain that there are safety standards for these online platforms is something that we are seeking to do. You know, John, when you buy a car, they tell you that the car is safe to drive. They know that. You know when you buy that car that the wheels aren’t going to fall off and the battery is not going to

2:04 fall out of it, and the car’s going to be safe to drive.

2:09 Speaker 1 Somebody’s Internet companies are putting stuff on for that. Kids shouldn’t be looking at it at their age.

2:16 Speaker 2 Yeah, I mean they’re doing it all the time. But see they when kids are in the virtual space, they’re the product and they’re exposed to all sorts of things. They can buy alcohol, they buy tobacco, they can see pornography.

2:34 They can do that twenty four hours a day. And what we’re saying is, no, you have to have a safety standard. In the physical world. You cannot expose children to that, so you ought not to be exposing them to it in the virtual space. You need to have those standards and those protections.

3:01 Speaker 1 Understood. Now, there’s so many other things going on. What else would you like to talk about on a Sunday morning.

3:12 Speaker 2 One of the things that we are getting ready this next week to do is to move forward with our funding mechanism so that we can avoid a shutdown. Now New Yorkers all know that Chuck Schumer likes having a government shut down, and he has said he intends to shut the government down September thirtieth. So we are doing

3:39 all we can to make certain that does not happen. And you will see the Senate take up a budget this next week.

3:48 Speaker 1 Understood, and it should the government should not shut down. We should allow poor government employees to suffer, because that’s the only there’s certain people that suff all the time, and it’s not fair to them.

4:04 Speaker 2 Yes, and it isn’t indeed, And when you look at what they’ve done to the Homeland Security employees and our TSA workers and requiring them to come in and work and not get a paycheck, it is awful. But they’re saying they want to shut the government down one more time.

4:23 Speaker 1 Is the Democratic Party the people out there? I mean, they have no money in the bank. The Democratic National Committee has broke. They owe money to the banks. I mean, don’t they realize that there’s something wrong?

4:37 Speaker 2 You well, and you would think that these Democrats socialists and their agenda no private property, open border. You have to provide health care and benefits for anybody that comes in the country. They want to tear up the Constitution, they want to star art over. They want to have one body of Congress and have that body appoints the

5:06 president and take away power from the people.

5:11 Speaker 1 Wow, well it’s a it’s a problem. Well, Santra Blackburn, thank you so much for coming on this Sunday morning. I’m gonna I think I’m gonna go to church and light a candle and uh because we all we all need a prayer.

5:25 Speaker 2 Absolutely, thanks so much. Good to join you. Thank you, bye bye.