Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is planning to introduce legislation that will make it easier for consumers to sue the government over censorship.
Cruz said the legislation will codify protections against censorship while making it easier for victims to win monetary settlements, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.
The move comes after he criticized President Donald Trump's administration for pushing to pull late-night host Jimmy Kimmel off the air after Kimmel suggested the assassin of conservative leader Charlie Kirk may have been a pro-Trump Republican.
Cruz last month criticized Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr for pressuring Disney and ABC over Kimmel's comments.
Carr has agreed to Cruz's call to testify before a hearing of the Senate Commerce Committee, which the Texas senator chairs.
"Censorship is wrong, regardless of who's doing it," Cruz said.
Carr, hours before Kimmel's suspension was announced, had allegedly threatened Disney-owned ABC over Kimmel's comments about the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, but Carr denies any influence, saying it was a decision made solely at the discretion of local broadcasters.
Cruz is one of a handful of Republicans challenging the Trump administration on free-speech issues and other matters, including taking equity stakes in companies and imposing tariffs.
He said his efforts on censorship have been underway for some time.
The Commerce Committee has also been investigating claims that former President Joe Biden's administration pressured social media platforms to pull content flagged as disinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cruz said many Democrats have told him they agree with him on the Kimmel matter, and he hopes that will help his bill after the Biden administration's censorship moves were overlooked.
Still, winning enough votes could prove challenging. A bill that passed in the House in 2023, which would have banned federal employees from asking online platforms to censor speech, did not gain traction in the Senate because of concerns it could make it harder to target misinformation.
Under Cruz's legislation, there would be exceptions for government investigations. It also would not include non-protected speech, such as nonconsensual intimate images.
Cruz said he is even willing to go on Kimmel's show to promote his bill, though he has said he does not think Kimmel and other comedians are funny because of their obsession with Trump.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.