New Senate bill punishes chilling of online speech — if it passes

The First Amendment has been under a decade-long attack from the left with mainstream oppressors bulldozing anyone who opposed COVID’s origin story, engaged in scientific debates over climate change and gender norms, or argued about the emerging reality of voter fraud.

Now, a new bipartisan bill led by Republican Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) and Democrat Sen. Ron Wyden (Ore.) aims to tamp down the onslaught of online censorship pervading modern society with real repercussions for any government agency or representative that violates that sacred right.

The JAWBONE Act is poised to return free speech to the online and real-world arenas.

The censorship machine

The First Amendment is quite clear:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

That should be enough to keep politicians from violating the rights of millions of Americans from coast to coast. However, in recent years, elected officials on the left — and their supporters — have found ways to silence right-leaning voices, especially in online spaces where all opinions are meant to be heard and debated equally. Here are just some of the ways the left has created its own ideological echo chamber where dissent is denied wholesale:

• Twitter banned a sitting president from the platform due to supposed violent rhetoric surrounding January 6.
• Facebook excessively moderated COVID-19 content that defied the accepted narrative after receiving pressure from the Biden administration.
• Twitter files revealed mass social media censorship under the guise of COVID misinformation, disinformation, and "mal-information."
• Big Tech censored anti-Biden content, including the Hunter Biden laptop scandal that was later proven true.
• The Biden-Harris administration ran multiple anti-misinformation campaigns against American citizens and right-oriented media outlets.
• Universities canceled and disinvited speakers who didn’t espouse mainstream narratives.
• Revered speaker, podcaster, and man of faith Charlie Kirk was silenced with a bullet for speaking truths that were uncomfortable for some to hear.

When silencing culture rises to the level of targeted murders, you know things have gone too far. Luckily, the Justice Against Weaponized Bureaucratic Overreach to Networked Expression Act, or JAWBONE Act, is poised to return free speech to the online and real-world arenas.

JAWBONE Act

The JAWBONE Act is a new bill proposed by Sen. Cruz and Sen. Wyden that provides clearer restrictions on government-sponsored censorship campaigns. As its namesake suggests, it strictly forbids “jawboning,” or the act of government entities pressuring private social media, AI, and broadcasting companies from silencing free speech on their platforms.

Clear examples of jawboning include the period when social media companies shadow banned accounts on behalf of the Biden administration throughout COVID, as well as during the Russia collusion hoax and the Hunter Biden laptop scandal.

Most notably, the JAWBONE Act exists not only to protect citizens from deliberate speech violations, but it "create[s] a cause of action against any government agency or employee” that attempts to subvert the First Amendment.

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SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images

That means victims can sue the government for merely attempting to jawbone them and obtain financial compensation, including damages and attorney fees, following any successful or attempted wrongdoing. To further hold government bodies accountable, government communications initiated with private social media, AI, and broadcasting companies must be submitted through a portal with public summaries detailing the essence of the messages, though any communications involving criminal and civil matters are exempt.

The ultimate goal is to fully “hold the government accountable for censorship and violations of the First Amendment,” by limiting the government’s illegal anti-free speech activities and returning the power to the people. Unfortunately, private companies aren’t included in the bill, so they can still theoretically silence and ban users on their own volition, although some states, like Florida, have passed anti-deplatforming legislation to deter potential offenders.

The JAWBONE Act is currently waiting for consideration before moving on to a vote. If passed, this bill would be the biggest protection conservative voices have against an authoritarian leftist government that could arise with a vengeance as we head into the midterms, especially without the SAVE America Act in place to prevent unwanted voter fraud that may tip the scales of power sooner than later.