Jawboning
Gary Waters

Blog

Jawboning

The First Amendment imposes stringent constraints on the government’s power to regulate speech, but the question of when the First Amendment prohibits jawboning—informal government efforts to persuade, cajole, or strong-arm private platforms to change their content-moderation practices—warrants more attention than it’s received thus far. Some forms of jawboning are probably best understood as a legitimate aspect of governance. Others are probably best understood as illegitimate, and possibly unconstitutional, efforts to manipulate or censor public discourse. 

This blog channel highlights the Institute’s ongoing research and education efforts related to jawboning.

Litigation

Press Statement

State Department Rule Requiring Visa Applicants to Register Their Social Media Handles is Ineffective, New Documents Say

Knight Institute renews calls for Biden administration to end policy that “infringes expressive and associational freedom”

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Litigation

Lawsuit

Coalition for Independent Technology Research v. Abbott

A case challenging the application of Texas’s TikTok ban to public university faculty

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Podcast

Podcast

Views on First

What happens when social media collides with the First Amendment? 

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Event

Event

Flashpoint: Protests, Policing, and the Press

Film Screening and Panel Discussion

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