Two senators from opposite ends of the political spectrum have joined forces on a bill targeting a practice that both parties claim the other side loves to use. Senators Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) have introduced the Justice Against Weaponized Bureaucratic Overreach to Networked Expression Act, which they’re calling the JAWBONE Act. The name is a reference to “jawboning,” where the government pressures private companies to change their content moderation policies or remove speech without passing any actual law.
If passed, the bill would give ordinary Americans a legal path to fight back when the government tries to strong-arm platforms into censoring them. Right now, people can only ask a court to stop future violations. The JAWBONE Act would go further, letting plaintiffs seek monetary damages and would apply even to failed censorship attempts. Government agencies would also have to hand over relevant communications with companies when complaints are filed, which the senators say would improve transparency and accountability.
The two senators framed the bill as a necessary fix to a real gap in First Amendment enforcement. “Americans face significant hurdles in proving these violations,” they said in a joint statement, arguing that current legal tools simply aren’t enough to hold the government responsible for pressuring platforms behind closed doors.
Despite the bipartisan handshake, both senators used the announcement to take shots at the other side. Cruz pointed to the Biden administration, accusing it of using the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to pressure tech companies into removing content from people who spoke out against vaccine mandates and election fraud claims. Wyden had a different target. He said the clearest example of jawboning is “Trump threatening cable companies because he doesn’t like their late-night shows.”
Wyden’s office also told Ars Technica that the bill would cover more recent incidents, including the Trump administration’s pressure on app stores to remove certain applications. One example is ICEBlock, an app that let users track ICE agents’ locations on a map. The app’s creator is currently suing the government over what they describe as unlawful threats that led to the app being pulled from stores.
The bill matters because jawboning sits in a legal grey area that governments have long exploited. Because no formal law is passed and no official order is issued, it’s been difficult to prove in court that the government crossed a line. A few high-profile cases in recent years have brought this into sharper focus:
- The Biden administration’s contacts with social media companies over COVID-19 content drew a major legal challenge that reached the Supreme Court in 2024
- The removal of ICEBlock from app stores after reported government pressure raised fresh concerns about how far administrations can go informally
- Complaints from conservative commentators and news outlets that platforms acted under political pressure to restrict certain speech
Both senators insist the bill is not aimed at any one administration. Wyden called jawboning a non-partisan problem and said the bill would give all Americans the ability to sue when the government “illegally coerces censorship.” Cruz echoed that, saying the bill would make sure “the First Amendment is protected, not undermined.”
Whether Congress will actually pass it is another question. Bipartisan bills that touch on free speech and government power tend to attract broad initial support but can stall quickly once the details get picked apart. Still, the fact that Cruz and Wyden, two senators with almost nothing else in common politically, are co-sponsoring this together is a signal that frustration with government pressure on speech platforms has grown strong enough to bridge that gap, at least for now.