Senator Ted Cruz used his latest Senate Commerce Committee hearing to intensify his push against what he describes as government “jawboning,” the practice of pressuring private companies to restrict lawful speech.
The hearing, titled “Shut Your App: How Uncle Sam Jawboned Big Tech Into Silencing Americans,” focused on the growing threat of state-backed censorship, particularly online and in emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence.
Cruz opened the session by warning that federal officials have been using their influence to silence citizens indirectly through corporate intermediaries.
“In a free society, the people govern, not by mob or might, but by reasoned argument and the rule of law,” he said in his statement entered into the record.
“Essential to keeping a society free is the ability of a citizenry to speak freely and debate openly without fear of government reprisal.”
His remarks follow the release of a report accusing the Biden administration of turning the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency into a tool for suppressing online debate.
We obtained a copy of the report for you here.
According to the report, the agency pressured major social media companies to remove or downgrade posts related to COVID-19 policies and election security.
“Last week, I released a report detailing how the Biden administration weaponized the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to pressure Big Tech into policing speech,” Cruz said.
“Two of today’s witnesses, Alex Berenson and Sean Davis, were personally targeted by our government.”
Both Berenson and Davis testified that their accounts were restricted after raising questions about pandemic policies and mail-in voting.
Cruz described these incidents as examples of a broader government strategy that seeks to outsource censorship to private firms, avoiding direct constitutional accountability.
“The First Amendment is a powerful weapon against the government’s ability to publicly censor its own citizens,” he said.
“But in recent years, we have seen the government censor in secret through third parties, ‘jawboning’ Big Tech into suppressing user content, often under the guise of ‘safety’ or ‘national security.’”
Cruz also cautioned that the same tactics are being extended to artificial intelligence, where federal agencies are already attempting to define and regulate “harmful” or “misleading” information.
“By controlling AI inputs and outputs, the Biden administration was deciding what information Americans could see and consume, an effort that continues with laws in California, Colorado, and New York,” he said.
As part of his broader Legislative Framework for American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence, Cruz announced that he will soon introduce legislation to ban government jawboning outright and make it easier for Americans to hold officials accountable.
“In the coming weeks, I will be introducing legislation to prohibit government jawboning and empower Americans to hold government officials accountable,” he stated.
The senator’s proposal would provide new legal remedies for individuals who have been silenced at the direction of government actors and establish clearer boundaries to prevent agencies from covertly shaping public discourse.
Cruz framed the issue as fundamental to democratic self-government. “No government official, regardless of party, should be engaged in jawboning. The First Amendment is not about opinions you agree with. It’s not about opinions that are right and reasonable. The First Amendment is about opinions that you passionately disagree with and the right of others to express them.”
He concluded his remarks by inviting bipartisan cooperation on the measure.
“I’ll give my Democrat colleagues a chance to redeem themselves: Join me in standing up for free speech by working to advance this legislation and stop censorship by government officials,” Cruz said.
