Senate Commerce Free Speech Hearing Targets Government Pressure

WASHINGTON, Oct. 23, 2025 — Senate Commerce Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, announced plans for a hearing examining alleged government influence over technology platforms, including testimony from executives at Google, Meta, and a non-profit organization focused on free speech, particularly on college campuses.

The hearing will follow recent debates in Congress over “jawboning,” or government pressure on companies to curb their speech.

“We have seen the government trample on this right through third parties, joining with Big Tech to censor Americans, often under the guise of safety or national security,” Cruz said in a Wednesday press release announcing the hearing.

“In a free society, the people govern by speaking freely and debating openly without government retaliation. I hope we will advance bipartisan legislation to stop government jawboning and protect freedom of thought in our country,” he said.

In January, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company would replace fact-checkers with community notes, calling fact-checkers “too politically biased.” Zuckerberg acknowledged the move means Meta will catch “less bad stuff,” but said fewer “innocent users” would be banned.

Similar changes have been made at Google’s YouTube. Previously, a video containing more than 25 percent questionable content risked removal. That threshold was reportedly raised to 50 percent in December 2024.

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, which described itself as “a free speech nonprofit that believes in an America where people overwhelmingly support the right of others to freely express views different from their own,” will also testify. The group has criticized both the Trump administration and social media companies for sacrificing free speech.

The hearing, titled “Part II of Shut Your App: How Uncle Sam Jawboned Big Tech Into Silencing Americans,” will be held Oct. 29 at 10 a.m. Witnesses will include Markham Erickson, vice president of government affairs and public policy at Google; Neil Potts, vice president of public policy at Meta; and Will Creeley, legal director at FIRE.

In the previous hearing, Democrats accused Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr of jawboning and Republicans said the Biden administration pushed tech companies to silence speech, particularly during the pandemic.