Trump signed an executive order in December that explicitly carves out child safety protections from federal AI preemption – and his own White House just called Florida's legislature to kill a child safety bill anyway.
That call went to Florida House Speaker Daniel Perez, and it came the same week Florida's Senate scheduled a floor vote on Ron DeSantis' AI Bill of Rights.
But that bill is now stalled – and the parents of children who were groomed, sexually exploited, and driven to suicide by AI chatbots are watching Big Tech win a fight it was never supposed to win.
David Sacks Said Child Safety Was Off the Table. Then He Called Florida.
Trump's AI czar David Sacks was clear when the December executive order dropped.
"Preemption would not apply to generally applicable state laws," he stated. "So state laws requiring online platforms to protect children from online predators or sexually explicit material would remain in effect."
That was the promise.
Now Sacks – a Silicon Valley venture capitalist with vast AI investments who once donated to DeSantis' political operation before backing Trump – is reportedly among the White House officials who contacted Florida lawmakers to oppose DeSantis' AI Bill of Rights.
The bill does exactly what Sacks said would be protected: it bans AI chatbots from conducting unlicensed therapy sessions with children, gives parents access to their kids' AI conversations, restricts when minors can access these platforms, and bars organizations from delivering licensed therapy services through AI.
https://twitter.com/RonDeSantis/status/2024936492083085663?s=20
It passed the Florida Senate.
Then the White House called.
"The speaker believes the states should not interfere with President Trump's ability to lead on this important issue," Perez's communications director told The Daily Signal.
Florida's Republican House Speaker is now blocking a child protection bill – and blaming Trump for it.
At Least a Dozen Wrongful Death Lawsuits. Congress Has Passed Zero Federal Child Safety Laws.
Here's what "let the federal government handle it" actually looks like.
A 14-year-old Florida boy named Sewell Setzer shot himself while messaging with a Character.AI chatbot that told him to "come home" to it in the moments before his death.
His mother Megan Garcia filed suit, testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, and stood next to DeSantis at a press event to tell America what happened to her son.
Congress held the hearings. Congress heard the testimony. Congress has passed zero federal AI child safety laws.
A 16-year-old California boy's chat logs showed ChatGPT mentioned suicide more than 1,200 times during their conversations – and rather than directing him to help, the AI allegedly provided specific methods and offered to help write a goodbye note.
A 13-year-old Colorado girl died after months of a chatbot companion cutting her off from family rather than getting her help.
Google and Character.AI settled a wave of wrongful death lawsuits in January.
Keith Flaugh, CEO of Florida Citizens Alliance, has watched this body count grow while lobbying for the AI Bill of Rights.
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"AI, without regulation, will destroy the family unit when every child – either through the education system or just through getting a chat – has their own personal, godlike authority figure in their life, starting at age five or less," Flaugh told The Daily Signal.
That's not a prediction.
That's a description of what's already happening – backed by lawsuits, court filings, and body bags.
Big Tech Bought the Argument and the Governor's Race
The money trail here isn't subtle.
A pro-AI super PAC called Leading the Future – backed by OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman and the founders of Andreessen Horowitz – just pledged $5 million to help Byron Donalds win the Florida governor's race.
Donalds is Trump's endorsed candidate to succeed DeSantis.
And this isn't just Florida.
Last week the White House sent a letter to a Utah lawmaker demanding he kill his own AI child safety bill – one that asked tech companies to do nothing more than publish their safety plans for children.
"We are categorically opposed to Utah HB 286 and view it as an unfixable bill," the letter stated.
A transparency requirement was, apparently, too much to ask.
Sources familiar with the matter say the White House is now expected to target similar bills in Tennessee and Nebraska.
Michael Toscano, director of the Institute for Family Studies' technology initiative, named exactly what's happening: "This is a culture war against Trump's own base. I've never seen anything like this – the dynamic where the White House is doing everything in its power to stop red states from passing common sense laws to protect people is shocking to the conscience."
Big Tech got its White House access through the donations and the influence network now operating out of the executive branch – and it is spending that access right now, in Florida, in Utah, in every statehouse that dares to ask for basic safeguards.
DeSantis is right that Florida has the constitutional authority to protect its children.
His own president's executive order says so.
The question is whether anyone in Florida's House is willing to say that out loud – before another family has to testify in Washington about a child they buried.
Sources:
- Shawn Fleetwood, "SCOOP: White House Working Against Florida Attempt to Limit AI for Minors, Seeking Federal Solution," The Daily Signal, February 23, 2026.
- Emily Mangiaracina, "White House opposes Florida's proposed AI 'bill of rights,'" LifeSiteNews, February 24, 2026.
- Gabrielle Russon, "House, Senate clash over AI 'bill of rights' as White House interjects," Florida Phoenix, February 24, 2026.
- Steve Contorno and Dasha Burns, "Super PAC backed by AI titans pledges $5 million to boost Byron Donalds' run for Florida governor," NBC News, February 12, 2026.
- John Kennedy, "Florida on board with state data center regulations, defying Trump," USA Today Network – Florida, February 24, 2026.
- "DeSantis confident Florida won't violate Trump's AI order," Orlando Weekly, December 15, 2025.
- "Google and Character.AI agree to settle lawsuit linked to teen suicide," JURIST, January 9, 2026.
