U.S,. Rep. Laura Friedman, D-Calif., speaks as protesters gather in Hollywood on September 22 to denounce the suspension of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” after the host’s comments about the shooting death of conservative activist .Charlie Kirk. Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo
Lawmakers and witnesses emphasized the threat government censorship poses to First Amendment rights during a congressional hearing Wednesday, with Republicans citing what they called Biden administration censorship of social media and Democrats focusing on what they said was weaponization of free speech by the Trump administration.
The hearing followed an investigation led by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, on the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s role in what a panel report described as “jawboning” big tech companies into disproportionately silencing conservative viewpoints during the Biden presidency. Cruz sponsored the hearing.
The hearing was called “Shut Your App: How Uncle Sam Jawboned Big Tech Into Silencing Americans.” The practice of jawboning refers to the “inappropriate demands made of private actors by government officials,” according to a paper published by the Cato Institute.
In a report outlining the investigation, the committee found that CISA “acted outside both the First Amendment and its own authority” by conducting a censorship campaign of “constitutionally protected speech.”
The Supreme Court reviewed these censorship claims in a 2024 case styled Murthy vs. Missouri and sided with the Biden administration in a 6-3 ruling, citing that the plaintiffs lacked sufficient standing to sue.
The premise of the case centered on whether the federal government violated the First Amendment by allegedly pressuring social media platforms to censor certain types of speech.
On Wednesday, Democrats criticized the panel’s report findings and the direction that the hearing was taking.
“This hearing is a farce,” said Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass. “We are not focusing on the imminent threat to the First Amendment, the beating heart of democracy.”
Markey noted that the committee is “relitigating an issue that the Supreme Court has already decided” and focused his questioning on what he described as ongoing threats by the Trump administration to revoke media outlets’ access and licenses based on their “editorial decisions.”
In the majority opinion issued in June 2024 by Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote that “The plaintiffs failed to show a direct causal link between government actions and the suppression of their speech.”
Democrats also tailored their remarks and questioning to the role Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr played in ABC’s temporary suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s late night show.
In an appearance on conservative Benny Johnson’s podcast last month, Carr said, “We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” in reference to what ABC and local affiliates should do following Kimmel’s comments on the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Hours later, ABC announced it was suspending Kimmel’s show.
Ranking Member Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., outlined the chain of events that led to the suspension of Kimmel’s show and said they should “alarm every American.”
Testifying at the hearing, Eugene Volokh, senior fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, told the committee, “Whether or not they actually caused the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel, they were an attempt to do something the Constitution does not allow.”
Added Sen. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., “I certainly hope that Chairman Carr does come here to testify. There’s several of us that have authored legislation to protect [the First Amendment] and maybe it’s something that can become bipartisan.”
In his testimony, the CEO and co-founder of conservative magazine The Federalist, Sean Davis, claimed that the “defenses of media millionaires like Jimmy Kimmel are based more on partisanship than any sort of actual belief in free speech.”
Kirk’s assassination also emerged as a recurring topic among lawmakers and witnesses, with Davis describing his killing as an example of the rippling effects of censorship.
“It begins with censorship, it moves to the destruction of statues and monuments, and it ends with the murder of people,” Davis said.
Despite intense debate and divided opinion on Biden and Trump censorship campaigns, Luján acknowledged that “there is a lot of agreement” within the committee.
“I don’t know anyone in that room that disagrees with protecting the First Amendment — one,” Luján said.
The committee will continue ongoing discussions on free speech protections and has invited Carr to testify before a panel over Kimmel’s suspension. A hearing date has not been announced.
