The hallmark tools of the digital age—social media platforms that host and drive so much of our public discourse—have enjoyed unprecedented growth. But with this growth, these private platforms are at risk of becoming targets of government efforts to persuade, cajole, or strong-arm them—sometimes called “jawboning”—to change their content-moderation policies. The Knight Institute has been at the forefront of efforts to raise awareness about and address the problem of government interference in social media platforms. In 2023, the Institute launched a research initiative titled Jawboning and the First Amendment, which includes a series of blog posts and essays by scholars and practitioners from varying backgrounds considering how jawboning works, why it matters as a form of censorship, and what possible regulations and solutions can remedy its harms. Read more about the initiative here.

Our policy work focuses on promoting transparency with respect to government communications about platform content moderation practices.