The First Amendment says the government cannot silence Americans simply because officials dislike what they have to say. But what happens when the government doesn’t censor you directly? What happens when it pressures a private company to do it instead?
That’s called “jawboning.” And the bipartisan JAWBONE Act, introduced by Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Ron Wyden (D-OR), is designed to stop it. The bill would prohibit federal agencies and employees from coercing broadcasters, online platforms, and artificial intelligence companies into suppressing speech. It would also give people a way to hold the government accountable when it crosses that line.
Americans learned during COVID just how dangerous the relationship between government and Big Tech can become. Federal officials communicated with social media companies about COVID-related content and pushed platforms to take action against information the government considered false or misleading. Questions about vaccines, masks, lockdowns, treatments, and other public-health policies became censorship targets in an environment where scientific understanding was still changing.
That matters for medical freedom. There can be no meaningful informed consent without access to information and open debate. Patients must be free to ask questions. Doctors and scientists must be free to challenge government policy. And Americans must be free to share their experiences—even when those experiences conflict with the government’s preferred message. Government cannot build public trust by controlling the conversation.
The Restore the First campaign is focused on documenting the censorship that happened during COVID and giving Americans who were censored a way to tell their stories. Those stories matter because litigation and congressional investigations have shown how difficult it can be to uncover government communications with private companies after the fact. The JAWBONE Act addresses that problem prospectively by creating both accountability and transparency.
Most importantly, the bill would create a federal cause of action against federal agencies and employees that engage in prohibited jawboning. A claim would not depend on whether the government’s pressure actually succeeded in getting speech removed. The coercive government conduct itself can be actionable. Plaintiffs could seek monetary damages and other relief.
The bill also attacks the secrecy surrounding government-platform communications. It would establish a centralized portal for covered communications between federal agencies and broadcasters, online platforms, and AI providers. Agencies would generally have to report covered communications at least every 120 days, and searchable public summaries would identify government requests involving content.
This is not about preventing government from speaking. Public-health agencies have a right—and a responsibility—to give Americans information. The JAWBONE Act recognizes that legitimate government communication is different from using government power to coerce a private company into silencing someone else.
This is an issue that crosses party lines. Republican Senator Ted Cruz and Democratic Senator Ron Wyden introduced it together, and its supporters range from the ACLU and Center for Democracy & Technology to Americans for Tax Reform and Advancing American Freedom.