The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University today endorsed the Justice Against Weaponized Bureaucratic Overreach to Networked Expression Act, or JAWBONE Act, a bipartisan bill introduced by Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Ron Wyden (D-OR). The bill is also endorsed by the ACLU and the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.

The bill would create new safeguards against government coercion of private speech intermediaries, including social media platforms, broadcasters, and providers of AI systems. It would establish a federal cause of action against federal agencies and officials who unlawfully coerce or attempt to coerce these intermediaries into suppressing or otherwise taking action with respect to protected speech. It would also establish new transparency measures, including standards for logging covered communications between federal officials and private intermediaries and a public portal for certain covered communications.

“Government officials are free to speak, persuade, inform the public, and enforce the law. What they cannot do is use threats or regulatory power to coerce private intermediaries into suppressing protected speech,” said Nadine Farid Johnson, policy director at the Knight First Amendment Institute. “The JAWBONE Act would create an important mechanism for accountability when government jawboning crosses the constitutional line, and we appreciate the leadership of Senators Cruz and Wyden in introducing this bill.”

The Knight Institute has long warned that government jawboning can distort public discourse and evade meaningful judicial review. In 2024, the Institute launched “Jawboning and the First Amendment,” a research initiative examining how informal government pressure can function as a form of censorship, why it matters, and what legal and policy responses can address its harms. When officials pressure social media platforms, broadcasters, or other intermediaries to suppress protected speech, the burden often falls on the speakers and listeners who are excluded from public discourse or whose access to information is restricted.

At the same time, the Institute has emphasized that not every communication between the government and private intermediaries is coercive. Government officials must remain free to share information, advocate their views, respond to emergencies, and enforce existing law consistent with the First Amendment. The JAWBONE Act recognizes this distinction by targeting coercive efforts to induce content actions while preserving space for lawful government communication.

By creating a private right of action, the bill would be an important step toward ensuring that coercion of private speech intermediaries does not evade public or judicial scrutiny.

Read the overview of the JAWBONE Act here.