{"id":119047,"date":"2026-03-11T08:45:56","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T11:45:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tech.einnews.com\/article\/898709686"},"modified":"2026-03-11T08:45:56","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T11:45:56","slug":"dewine-urges-ohio-lawmakers-to-pass-tech-regulations-on-ai-social-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/2026\/03\/11\/dewine-urges-ohio-lawmakers-to-pass-tech-regulations-on-ai-social-media\/","title":{"rendered":"DeWine urges Ohio lawmakers to pass tech regulations on AI, social media"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

\u201cOhio law needs real consequences connected with it. The Ohio Attorney General and county prosecutors must have clear legal tools to hold these tech companies criminally and civilly accountable,\u201d DeWine said.<\/p>\n

His calls for further regulation are an extension of previous legislative successes under DeWine\u2019s belt. He championed a bill \u2014 which later became law \u2014 that required school districts to generally ban cellphones during learning hours. On Tuesday, he attested that the bill has resulted in Ohio\u2019s children \u201cgetting their lives back,\u201d at least in the classroom.<\/p>\n

Explore<\/span>DeWine focuses on protecting children, education in final State of the State<\/a><\/section>\n

\u201cBut, what is happening to our young people today goes beyond phones in schools,\u201d DeWine said. \u201cIt\u2019s a larger issue about their access to screens and phones and social media and the internet when they are outside of the classroom.\u201d<\/p>\n

He went on to raise concerns about the decline in time children spend reading books and the copious screentime that has replaced analog activities.<\/p>\n

\u201cHours on the cellphone, iPad or Chromebook, is time children are not outside playing with friends, time that they\u2019re not getting enough sleep, time they\u2019re not reading a book, time they\u2019re not exercising or playing sports, time they\u2019re not learning real social skills or so many of the other important skills that will help them live up to their full potential,\u201d DeWine said.<\/p>\n

Legislative response on tech<\/b><\/h3>\n

In a press conference following DeWine\u2019s address, Republican legislative leaders didn\u2019t exactly take DeWine\u2019s handoff and run with it. Their apprehension is partly formed by the longstanding debate of whether tech regulations ought to be a responsibility of the federal government or the states.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think everybody understands that as AI emerges and as AI develops, there\u2019s an emerging risk associated with it that it will be used for ill purposes, if you will, and nobody wants to see that,\u201d said Senate President Rob McColley, R-Napoleon. \u201cI know we\u2019ve passed some things in the past that have dealt with this, but we always need to be mindful of what we can do going forward to protect Ohioans.\u201d <\/p>\n

McColley added: \u201cNaturally, I suspect there\u2019s gonna be some emerging case law nationally surrounding states\u2019 role in regulating AI, which is inherently not something that stops at state lines, so I would say this is going to be an issue we\u2019re going to have to deal with for the next decade or more.\u201d<\/p>\n

House Speaker Matt Huffman, R-Lima, said he saw at least a limited role in how the state can handle tech regulations, particularly by structuring the state\u2019s tort laws to put liability on tech companies for negative consequences of their products. <\/p>\n

Huffman said the impact of tech on young people has been \u201chorrible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have this whole set of teenagers \u2026 who have increased rates of suicide, of depression, of all sorts of things, because of using a smartphone. And there\u2019s no question about that,\u201d Huffman said.<\/p>\n

Still, Huffman offered a stifled response to what the legislature will actually work to achieve. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe law is going to have to catch up with this,\u201d Huffman said. \u201cThis isn\u2019t my area of expertise, and maybe with the exception of half a dozen people in the House that have more knowledge than most of us, we\u2019re going to have to be advised about how we go forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Democrats, for their part, signaled a willingness to work with DeWine to minimize the dangers of tech, despite their general critique of his address.<\/p>\n

\u201cDemocrats are ready for bipartisan deliberation and discussion (to hold) the companies accountable as this technology continues to evolve,\u201d said Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio, D-Lakewood, in a Tuesday press conference.<\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/strong> <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

… ,\u00e2\u0080\u009d DeWine said. Legislative response on tech<\/span> In a press conference following DeWine … by the longstanding debate of whether tech<\/span> regulations ought to be a responsibility … hold) the companies accountable as this technology<\/span> continues to evolve,\u00e2\u0080\u009d said Senate …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-119047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119047"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119047\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}