Last week, Senators Ted Cruz and Ron Wyden introduced the JAWBONE Act—Justice Against Weaponized Bureaucratic Overreach to Networked Expression. This bipartisan bill targets government pressure on tech platforms to silence lawful speech, a practice known as jawboning. It creates a federal legal claim and requires transparency when government officials communicate with platforms and AI providers about user content. According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which backs the bill, the stakes are clear: last year, federal officials pressured Apple into removing an immigration-reporting app whose creator had been threatened with prosecution. The bill aims to protect speech from government coercion, though the EFF notes the need for balance—legitimate government-platform cooperation shouldn't be suppressed. Platforms themselves retain First Amendment rights to moderate content.

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