S. 4749 — JAWBONE Act

This section states findings that private speech intermediaries and AI system providers have a right to independent editorial judgment but can serve as government chokepoints for censorship. It finds that government coercion of such entities threatens free speech, that not all government-platform interactions are coercive, that the public has a First Amendment interest in hearing government views, and that limits on coercive speech regulation are needed to protect open inquiry.

This section prohibits agencies and officers or employees of the United States from coercing or attempting to coerce a broadcaster, interactive computer service provider, or artificial intelligence system provider to take a content action. It defines coerce to include threats or implied adverse actions and content action to include altering, removing, or limiting information or programming, with exceptions for lawful investigations, warrants, and official-use directions.

This section directs the National Institute of Standards and Technology Director to develop, within 1 year of enactment of the Justice Against Weaponized Bureaucratic Overreach to Networked Expression Act and in consultation with specified officials, standards and guidelines for federal agencies to collect, log, retain, and transmit covered communications—defined as contacts from federal officers or employees to broadcasters, interactive computer services, or artificial intelligence systems regarding content moderation policies or expression—while excluding classified information, child sexual abuse material, and certain threats. It requires biennial updates and submission to the Office of Science and Technology Policy Director.

This section establishes a covered communications portal at the Office of Science and Technology Policy for federal agency contacts with broadcasters, interactive computer services, and artificial intelligence systems. It requires each agency to transmit new or unreported covered communications to the portal at least every 120 days, publishes searchable public summaries of each communication that identify any requests for content actions, permits redactions only under Freedom of Information Act exemptions with congressional access to unredacted records at least annually, and creates a retaliation-free complaint process for providers to report alleged violations.

This section provides that if any provision of the Act or any amendment made by the Act is determined to be unenforceable or invalid, the remaining provisions and amendments remain in effect.