Once the Books Start Coming Off the Shelves, Well See You In Court.: Book Censorship N… – Book Riot
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When putting together the book censorship news this week, it felt like each story was trying to one up the next, ranging from the ridiculous to the truly chilling. Were seeing an increase in lawsuits and legal involvement, from residents suing officials for banning books, to parents suing teachers for reading LGBTQ books in class, to the ACLU planning legal action against a schools new book challenge policy.
This is why Kelly Jensen and I keep emphasizing that simply reading banned books or buying them isnt enough: this is a systemic issue, and it needs a systemic solution. We need to organize in order to fight back against this wave of censorship, and that includes paying attention to who is getting elected to school and library boards if you have the opportunity, running for these positions is one of the most effective ways that you as an individual can fight censorship.
In May, we announced the School Board Project, which is a database in progress that documents every school board and school board election in the country, state by state. Its a massive project, but weve been chipping away it, prioritizing the states that have school board elections coming up. Eventually, we hope to do the same thing for library boards.
As Kelly explained, this is meant to be a resource that you can build on for your own local activism:
The School Board Project allows anyone to download the spreadsheets and add any relevant information that helps them. For example: individuals or groups may find including the names and stances of those running for boards in the sheet to help guide voters and/or as a means of tracking the kind of topics that are producing the most discussion in those districts. It can be useful for those considering a run for school board to collect information about what they need to do to become eligible or how long they have to prepare for a run. The possibilities here are wide open.
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Today, Im happy to announce round two of the School Board Project. In addition to the states already included in round one Florida, Pennsylvania, Utah, and Virginia we have also documented the upcoming school board elections, and how many seats are available, in Kentucky, Nebraska, and Wyoming.
Just open the document and save a copy, and then you can add any extra information or delete states that arent relevant to you.
Wed also like to get in contact with grassroots anti-censorship organizations that are helping people with these values run for school or library boards. If you know of any groups like this, especially on the state level or smaller, please let us know!
If you want to be involved in literary activism and the fight against censorship, one easy thing you can do is sign up for our Literary Activism newsletter. Well keep you updated about the latest relevant news as well as give you practical tips for how you can help in the first against censorship. Its also the best way to make sure you see this Censorship News Roundup every week!
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Once the Books Start Coming Off the Shelves, Well See You In Court.: Book Censorship N... - Book Riot
- America Is No Longer the Home of the Free Internet - The Atlantic - January 19th, 2025 [January 19th, 2025]
- Call for censorship culture to end as Unity Mitfords German diary is revealed - The Guardian - January 19th, 2025 [January 19th, 2025]
- Banning TikTok enables online censorship - Freedom of the Press Foundation - January 19th, 2025 [January 19th, 2025]
- Zuckerbergs conservative pivot fogs our understanding of censorship - Kansas Reflector - January 19th, 2025 [January 19th, 2025]
- The TikTok ban isnt about national security its censorship and government control - The Hill - January 19th, 2025 [January 19th, 2025]
- How the Trump administration threatens internet freedoms - Al Jazeera English - January 19th, 2025 [January 19th, 2025]
- Censorship or common sense? - Editor And Publisher Magazine - January 19th, 2025 [January 19th, 2025]
- TikTok refugees flock to another (heavily censored) Chinese app - The Washington Post - January 19th, 2025 [January 19th, 2025]
- Bill Burr on Adapting His Ahole Vibe, Wanting a Hostile Crowd for New Hulu Special and How a Rabbi Changed His Perspective on Censorship (EXCLUSIVE) -... - January 19th, 2025 [January 19th, 2025]
- In Russia, Reading Can Be Harmful To Your Health - Air Mail - January 19th, 2025 [January 19th, 2025]
- The Media Is Giving Away Its Rights Even Before Trump Tries to Take Them - The Nation - January 19th, 2025 [January 19th, 2025]
- How Trumps Return Is Pushing the Media to Self-Censor - Mother Jones - January 19th, 2025 [January 19th, 2025]
- From Russia to the EU: The high stakes of Metas content moderation shift - Global Voices - January 19th, 2025 [January 19th, 2025]
- Meta is getting rid of fact checkers. Zuckerberg acknowledged more harmful content will appear on the platforms now - CNN International - January 9th, 2025 [January 9th, 2025]
- Mark Zuckerbergs excuse for ending fact-checking program is a hoax, say experts: It is a lie that we are censors - EL PAS USA - January 9th, 2025 [January 9th, 2025]
- Legislative Efforts Heat Up on Book, Curricular Censorship Attempts | Censorship News - School Library Journal - January 9th, 2025 [January 9th, 2025]
- Ok, Zuck: So You Say You're Going To Stop Censoring Conservatives; Call Me Skeptical | Tomi Lahren - Outkick - January 9th, 2025 [January 9th, 2025]
- Meta follows Musks lead on censorship but ad industry keeps its distance from panic - Digiday - January 9th, 2025 [January 9th, 2025]
- How games might be the key to avoiding digital censorship - EurekAlert - January 9th, 2025 [January 9th, 2025]
- The tyranny of woke censorship is finally over and its all thanks to Donald Trump - The Telegraph - January 9th, 2025 [January 9th, 2025]
- If Supreme Court upholds TikTok ban, U.S. will see first-of-its-kind act of censorship | Opinion - Sacramento Bee - January 9th, 2025 [January 9th, 2025]
- Disney under pressure from conservative shareholders to disavow ad censorship - Washington Times - January 9th, 2025 [January 9th, 2025]
- Meta is Getting Rid of Fact-Checkers to Reduce Censorship on Facebook and Instagram - PetaPixel - January 9th, 2025 [January 9th, 2025]
- Mark Zuckerberg's Meta is moving moderators from California to Texas to combat concerns about bias and censorship - Business Insider - January 9th, 2025 [January 9th, 2025]
- Zuckerberg says Facebook will stop censoring and allow more political free speech: X effect - Must Read Alaska - January 9th, 2025 [January 9th, 2025]
- Students in every country have the right to free speech! Oppose the censorship of the Sri Lankan IYSSE! - WSWS - January 9th, 2025 [January 9th, 2025]
- Is the end of the Big Tech industrial censorship upon us? - The Spectator World - January 9th, 2025 [January 9th, 2025]
- Dont let Facebook off the hook for its pro-censorship past so easily - New York Post - January 9th, 2025 [January 9th, 2025]
- Mark Zuckerberg rolls back Meta censorship ahead of Donald Trump's return to White House - Washington Times - January 9th, 2025 [January 9th, 2025]
- Grounds of Getty Museum in LA Catch Fire, The Washington Posts Cartoonist Quits Over Censorship: Morning Links for January 8, 2025 - ARTnews - January 9th, 2025 [January 9th, 2025]
- Is this the end of the Big Tech censorship industrial complex? - The Spectator - January 9th, 2025 [January 9th, 2025]
- Comedian ended her 'Stockholm Syndrome' with the left, says it's become 'party of censorship' - Fox8tv - January 9th, 2025 [January 9th, 2025]
- Facebook Reverses Course On Censorship, Plus Is The Left Driven By Empathy Or Hate? with Dr. Gad Saad | Will Cain Show - Fox News - January 9th, 2025 [January 9th, 2025]
- Combating The Rising Threat Of Censorship In 2025 - The Daily Wire - January 1st, 2025 [January 1st, 2025]
- Social Media Companies Face Global Tug-of-War Over Free Speech - The New York Times - January 1st, 2025 [January 1st, 2025]
- Elon Musk accused of censoring right-wing X accounts who disagree with him on immigration - Sky News - January 1st, 2025 [January 1st, 2025]
- Conservatives continue to accuse Musk of censorship amid row over immigration - Anadolu Agency | English - January 1st, 2025 [January 1st, 2025]
- Conservatives Score Major Victory Against D.C. Censorship Cartel - AMAC Official Website - Join and Explore the Benefits - January 1st, 2025 [January 1st, 2025]
- Deepseek's V3 is the latest example of state-controlled censorship in Chinese LLMs - THE DECODER - January 1st, 2025 [January 1st, 2025]
- How the Left Will Defend Its Censorship Regime Against Trump - Daily Signal - January 1st, 2025 [January 1st, 2025]
- Media outlets say censor barring them from reporting on reason PMs testimony put off - The Times of Israel - December 18th, 2024 [December 18th, 2024]
- Are UT faculty hiding their political beliefs due to fear? Here's what a survey found. - Austin American-Statesman - December 18th, 2024 [December 18th, 2024]
- Book censorship is rife on Amazon.com, according to a report from The Citizen Lab - Index on Censorship - December 18th, 2024 [December 18th, 2024]
- Contents Unsung heroes: How musicians are raising their voices against oppression - Index on Censorship - December 18th, 2024 [December 18th, 2024]
- Embattled Roger Ver Says US Government Tried To Subvert Bitcoin As Early as 2011 With Mass Censorship Campaign - The Daily Hodl - December 14th, 2024 [December 14th, 2024]
- Exclusive | Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt unveils bill demanding fed watchdogs keep Congress in the loop on censorship by agencies - New York Post - December 14th, 2024 [December 14th, 2024]
- Can you define pornography? Neither can the government. - ACLU - December 14th, 2024 [December 14th, 2024]
- Cosmic censorship may be hiding whats really happening inside black holes - Study Finds - December 14th, 2024 [December 14th, 2024]
- How Her Story, a Feminist Comedy, Came to Rule Chinas Box Office - The New York Times - December 14th, 2024 [December 14th, 2024]
- Syrian Activists Feared Assads Retaliation. His Fall Frees Them to Speak Openly. - The Intercept - December 12th, 2024 [December 12th, 2024]
- Texas professors self-censor for fear of retaliation, survey found - The Texas Tribune - December 12th, 2024 [December 12th, 2024]
- Protecting kids online or social media censorship? The year-end push for and against the Kids Online Safety Act - Dundalk Eagle - December 12th, 2024 [December 12th, 2024]
- Kyle Sammin: Survey reveals the worrying trends of self-censorship among UPenn and Penn State faculty - Broad + Liberty - December 12th, 2024 [December 12th, 2024]
- More US academics self-censoring to avoid controversy - Times Higher Education - December 12th, 2024 [December 12th, 2024]
- Malaysia tightens grip on internet, in blow to online freedom - Rest of World - December 12th, 2024 [December 12th, 2024]
- New Jersey Governor Signs Freedom to Read Bill into Law | Censorship News - School Library Journal - December 12th, 2024 [December 12th, 2024]
- Letters: Why it's better to have no library than a than a censored one - NOLA.com - December 12th, 2024 [December 12th, 2024]
- New Jersey Protects the Freedom to Read With New Law Against Book Banning - newsbreaks.infotoday.com - December 12th, 2024 [December 12th, 2024]
- 2024: The Year In Censorship - Book and Film Globe - December 12th, 2024 [December 12th, 2024]
- Watch the Surrealist Glass Harmonica, the Only Animated Film Ever Banned by Soviet Censors (1968) - Open Culture - December 12th, 2024 [December 12th, 2024]
- Human rights organisations condemn criminal complaint lodged against award-winning journalist Mohammed Zubair - Index on Censorship - December 12th, 2024 [December 12th, 2024]
- State Department Closing Center That Worked to Censor Americans - NTD - December 12th, 2024 [December 12th, 2024]
- Marc Andreessen on AI, Tech, Censorship, and Dining with Trump - The FP - December 10th, 2024 [December 10th, 2024]
- Quantum Censorship Could Hide The Awful Truth of What Lies Inside a Black Hole - ScienceAlert - December 10th, 2024 [December 10th, 2024]
- Russia disconnects several regions from the global internet to test its sovereign net - TechRadar - December 10th, 2024 [December 10th, 2024]
- What Is the Censorship Industrial Complex and How is it Affecting Our Free Speech Rights? - ADF International - December 10th, 2024 [December 10th, 2024]
- Tech's actions on censorship will matter more than words, says Trump's FCC pick Brendan Carr - CNBC - December 10th, 2024 [December 10th, 2024]
- Protecting kids online or social media censorship?: The year-end push for and against the Kids Online Safety Act - MyEasternShoreMD - December 10th, 2024 [December 10th, 2024]
- NCAC and FIRE Express Alarm Over East Tennessee State Universitys Treatment of the FL3TCH3R Exhibit - Blogging Censorship - December 10th, 2024 [December 10th, 2024]
- Exclusive | Gallery claims it was forced to remove Donald Trump artwork from Miamis Scope Art Show: Censorship - Page Six - December 10th, 2024 [December 10th, 2024]
- Banned books and censorship: "an issue that affects everyone" - The Eastern Progress Online - December 10th, 2024 [December 10th, 2024]
- China's People Deserve the TruthNot Censorship | Opinion - Newsweek - November 26th, 2024 [November 26th, 2024]
- Australia withdraws a misinformation bill after critics compare it to censorship - ABC News - November 26th, 2024 [November 26th, 2024]
- CPJ, 24 other organizations release report on state censorship in the Americas - Committee to Protect Journalists - November 26th, 2024 [November 26th, 2024]
- Socratic Stage: The Governments Role in the Censorship Industry - New College of Florida - November 26th, 2024 [November 26th, 2024]
- Meet the American who helped ruin Albanese Government's censorship plan - Daily Mail - November 26th, 2024 [November 26th, 2024]
- It's Time To Stand Up to Educational Censorship | Opinion - Newsweek - November 26th, 2024 [November 26th, 2024]
- Russian director on Deaf Lovers PFF controversy: Censorship is the biggest threat to art in our world - Screen International - November 26th, 2024 [November 26th, 2024]
- Protecting kids online or social media censorship?: The push for and against the Kids Online Safety Act - Belgrade News - November 26th, 2024 [November 26th, 2024]
- My brush with censorship and what is coming - AlterNet - November 26th, 2024 [November 26th, 2024]