jawboning
noun1
Usually Persistent persuasive talk, particularly (politics, economics) talk that includes implied threats of punitive action, such as tighter government regulation.
- Or the merely verbal pressure of jawbonings by prominent people may try to silence a certain point of view.1991, Terrence E. Cook, The Great Alternatives of Social Thought, page 194:
- It's shocking to Douek, because she is a close-watcher of what's known as "jawboning," when regulators or government officials pressure private actors, like a social media company or broadcast network, to stifle speech. The libertarian Cato Institute calls the practice "censorship by proxy."[2025 September 18, Bobby Allyn, “Legal experts say pulling Jimmy Kimmel from air may amount to illegal 'jawboning'”, in Television, NPR, retrieved 18 Sep 2025: