The JAWBONE Act Would Finally Make Government Pay for Bullying Companies Into Censorship

By Blake Reed

Digital Liberty is strongly endorsing new legislation that would finally give regular citizens real recourse when government officials pressure private companies to silence speech they dislike.

Senators Ted Cruz and Ron Wyden introduced the JAWBONE Act — short for Justice Against Weaponized Bureaucratic Overreach to Networked Expression Act. The bill would create a clear legal path for Americans to sue government agencies and employees who engage in “jawboning,” the practice of leaning on social media platforms, broadcasters, and other media companies to censor protected speech.

Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform, put the problem plainly:

“Bureaucrats are not allowed to tell Americans what we can say, so they have started bullying media companies into doing their dirty work for them. The JAWBONE Act will create a real recourse for victims of this indirect censorship and not let bad actors escape just by changing jobs. Twitter and Facebook were pressured by the FBI during the Biden administration to delete posts from the opposition. Broadcasters have had their speech regulated by the FCC for generations. The JAWBONE Act recognizes that the First Amendment applies despite the government’s ability to ruin your business. Congress should pass this swiftly.”

This legislation directly addresses the tactic the government has increasingly relied on in recent years. When officials cannot outright ban speech themselves, they instead pressure the private platforms that host it. During the Biden administration, the FBI and other agencies leaned heavily on Twitter and Facebook to suppress stories and posts critical of the administration — from the Hunter Biden laptop to questions about COVID policies and election integrity. The Supreme Court has already recognized this kind of coercion as a serious First Amendment problem.

The same pattern has existed for decades with broadcasters. As Digital Liberty has documented, the FCC’s old Fairness Doctrine and Equal Time Rule were routinely used as tools to burden and chill conservative voices on the airwaves. When the government can threaten a company’s license, its advertising revenue, or its ability to do business, many companies will fold rather than fight.

The JAWBONE Act would change the incentives. It would allow victims of this indirect censorship to seek monetary damages and would require agencies to disclose certain communications with media companies to Congress. Importantly, it would prevent officials from dodging accountability simply by leaving their jobs when administrations change.

This builds on the work Digital Liberty and others have done for years to push back against both old-style FCC content regulation and newer forms of government pressure on social media. The principle is the same: the First Amendment exists to protect speech from government interference, whether that interference is direct or delivered through a middleman.

Bipartisan legislation on free speech is rare these days. The JAWBONE Act deserves swift consideration and passage. Americans should not have to rely on the goodwill of tech companies or broadcasters to protect their right to speak. They should have a direct way to hold the government accountable when it tries to silence them by proxy.

To read the full Senate announcement on the JAWBONE Act, click here.