Senators Blackburn & Blumenthal Hold Rally With Teens & Parents to Protect Kids Online
Senator Blackburn Discusses AI With the Nashville Songwriters Association
Senator Blackburn Hears From Parents Whose Children Were Harmed on Social Media Platforms
Senator Blackburn Grills Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg Over His Failure to Protect Children Online
Senator Blackburn is optimistic about how developing technologies are breaking barriers in the financial, auto manufacturing, and health care industries — all of which are critical to Tennessee’s economy. In Congress, she has continuously fought to protect Americans’ “virtual you” and put consumers in control of their data. At the same time, Senator Blackburn has helped expand access to broadband for rural Tennesseans. You can’t have 21st-century healthcare, 21st-century education, or a 21st-century economy without 21st-century internet that can be accessed by Tennesseans regardless of their zip code.
Senator Blackburn has led the charge in the Senate to hold Big Tech accountable for putting Americans in harm’s way and to establish guardrails in the virtual space. In late 2025, Senator Blackburn held a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law following allegations from six whistleblowers that Meta buried child safety research. Two former Meta researchers testified at the hearing about the toxic culture at Meta.
Senators Blackburn and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) have championed the bipartisan Kids Online Safety Act, comprehensive legislation to protect children online and hold Big Tech accountable.
When children are online, they are the product, and addiction is the business model. The Kids Online Safety Act would provide young people and parents with the tools, safeguards, and transparency they need to protect against online harms. The bill would require social media platforms to put the well-being of children first, ensuring an environment that is safe by default. Senators Blackburn and Blumenthal first introduced the Kids Online Safety Act in February 2022 after spearheading a series of five subcommittee hearings with social media companies and advocates on tech giants’ repeated failures to protect kids on their platforms and the dangers kids face online. The bill passed the U.S. Senate in July 2024, with 91 Senators voting in favor of the bipartisan legislation, but it did not receive a vote in the House.
Senator Blackburn reintroduced the bipartisan legislation on May 14, 2025, alongside Senator Blumenthal, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).
For more information on the Kids Online Safety Act, click here.
Last year, Senator Blackburn led the effort to remove an AI moratorium from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that would have upended state-level protections for Tennesseans against the unintended consequences and harms of artificial intelligence. She was recognized as one of the 100 most influential people in artificial intelligence by TIME Magazine for this effort.
Instead of pushing AI amnesty, President Trump called on Congress to pass federal standards and protections to solve the patchwork of state laws that has hindered innovation. Senator Blackburn strongly supports President Trump’s vision for American leadership in artificial intelligence, as outlined in his six key objectives for a national AI legislative framework.
In December 2025, Senator Blackburn released a section-by-section summary of her proposed TRUMP AMERICA AI Act. In March 2026, she released a discussion draft that would create one rulebook for AI to protect children, creators, conservatives, and communities from harm while ensuring the U.S. wins the global race for AI supremacy. This legislative proposal includes bipartisan legislation Senator Blackburn has previously introduced, the Kids Online Safety Act and the NO FAKES Act, to protect children and creators.
Instagram, owned by Meta, has become a connecting site for pedophiles, promoting illicit content of minors and advertising child sexual abuse material for sale. Beyond the Kids Online Safety Act, Senator Blackburn led bipartisan legislation, including the REPORT Act, to equip the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and law enforcement with the resources they need to adequately respond to online sexual exploitation. It was signed into law in 2024 and requires Big Tech companies such as Facebook, Snapchat or Instagram to report crimes against children involving sex trafficking, grooming, or the enticement of children for sexual acts to NCMEC’s CyberTipline. Following reports from survivors, advocates, and local law enforcement agencies that ridesharing companies are increasingly used as vehicles for exploitation, Senator Blackburn joined bipartisan letters to Uber and Lyft, calling on the ride-hailing apps to take additional steps to prevent their services from being used to transport victims of human trafficking.
Senator Blackburn introduced the bipartisan Safe Cloud Storage Act to provide limited liability protections for law enforcement-approved vendors to securely store and transfer child sexual abuse material in the cloud. This would remove outdated legal barriers that can hinder investigators. By allowing investigators to safely handle and analyze critical digital evidence without fear of civil or criminal liability, the bill would enable faster and more effective prosecutions of online predators. The Safe Cloud Storage Act builds directly on Senator Blackburn’s REPORT Act, which was signed into law.
Senator Blackburn has been a champion for Music City throughout her career in public service. She understands that while technology offers artists the ability to reach greater audiences and connect with listeners, it also increases the risk of unfair compensation and unauthorized replication of their likeness by AI.
Senator Blackburn has fought to ensure singer-songwriters are properly compensated for their talent and hard work. She introduced the bipartisan American Music Fairness Act, which would ensure artists and music creators receive fair compensation for the use of their songs on AM/FM radio by bringing corporate radio broadcasters in line with all other music streaming platforms.
In December 2025, Senator Blackburn chaired a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property hearing titled “Balancing the Interests of Local Radio, Songwriters, and Performers in the Digital Age,” where rock legend Gene Simmons of KISS testified in strong support of the legislation.
Senator Blackburn believes artists deserve the right to own their name, image, and likeness. Along with a group of bipartisan colleagues, she introduced the bipartisan NO FAKES Act to protect the voice and visual likenesses of individuals from unfair use through generative AI.
In May 2025, Senator Blackburn chaired a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law hearing titled “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: AI-Generated Deepfakes in 2025,” where Tennessee country music star Martina McBride testified in strong support of the legislation and urged Congress to pass the bill to protect artists from harmful AI deepfakes and voice clones.
To further safeguard creators, Senator Blackburn co-led the bipartisan TRAIN Act, which would give musicians, artists, and copyright holders the ability to access court records and determine whether their work has been used—without permission—to train generative AI models. Senator Blackburn also co-led the bipartisan COPIED Act, which would establish transparency standards for AI-generated content, combat harmful deepfakes, and help put artists, songwriters, and journalists back in control of their original work.
Senator Blackburn introduced the American Music Tourism Act, which passed the Senate unanimously. This legislation would direct the Department of Commerce to promote music tourism across the country to boost visitation to music festivals, venues, and attractions in Tennessee and beyond while strengthening the economic impact of Music City and America’s broader music industry.
Senator Blackburn Meets With the Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) in Washington, D.C.
Tennessee is home to quantum applications that have become critical as our nation competes on the global stage. Senator Blackburn has fought to pave the way for quantum development in the Senate, leading several pieces of legislation to bolster the United States’ dominance in this critical space.
Communist China has publicly acknowledged its goal to lead the world in quantum communications by 2049, so it’s critical the United States provide an environment for entrepreneurs and companies to promote competition and continued innovation. Senator Blackburn introduced the Quantum Sandbox for Near-Term Applications Act to establish a public-private partnership for near-term quantum application development and acceleration.
Senator Blackburn introduced the Advancing Quantum Manufacturing Act to strengthen quantum manufacturing capabilities and improve coordination between federal agencies, ensuring the United States leads in producing the next generation of quantum technologies. She also introduced the Defense Quantum Acceleration Act to supercharge the Department of War’s approach to quantum technology and advance U.S. national security, building on the work done at institutions like Oak Ridge National Lab (ORNL) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
In August 2023, Senator Blackburn hosted a roundtable discussion with government, research, and industry leaders in Chattanooga, Tennessee. She expressed her eagerness to promote academic research into commercial business applications for quantum, building on the city and state's success as an emerging tech hub.
