{{Short description|Suppression of speech and information}} {{Self-reference|For Wikipedia's policy concerning censorship, see Wikipedia:Wikipedia is not censored}} {{multiple| {{Weasel|date=December 2021}} {{More citations needed|date=February 2026}} }} {{pp-semi-vandalism|small=yes}} {{pp-move-vandalism|small=yes}}{{Multiple image | image1 = Nikolai Yezhov with Stalin and Molotov along the Volga–Don Canal, orignal.jpg | image2 = Stalin and Molotov along the Volga–Don Canal, Nikolai Yezhov removed.jpg | direction = horizontal | footer = Nikolai Yezhov was removed from photographs in the Soviet Union following the Great Purge by Joseph Stalin (''center'') }}'''Censorship''' is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient".<ref>{{cite web |title=censorship noun |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/censorship |website=Merriam-Webster |access-date=30 January 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=cen·sor·ship |url=https://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=censorship |website=The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language |access-date=30 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190131040315/https://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=censorship |archive-date=31 January 2019 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Definition of censorship in English |url=https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/censorship |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160926022731/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/censorship |archive-date=September 26, 2016 |website=Oxford Dictionaries |publisher=Oxford University Press |access-date=30 January 2019}}</ref> Censorship can be conducted by governments<ref>{{cite dictionary | title = censorship, n.| url = http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/29607| dictionary = OED Online| publisher = Oxford University Press| date = June 2018| access-date = 8 August 2018}}</ref> and private institutions.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.aclu.org/other/what-censorship|title=What Is Censorship|publisher=ACLU}}</ref> When an individual such as an author or other creator engages in censorship of their own works or speech, it is referred to as ''self-censorship''. General censorship occurs in a variety of different media, including speech, books, music, films, and other arts, the press, radio, television, and the Internet for a variety of claimed reasons including national security, to control obscenity, pornography, and hate speech, to protect children or other vulnerable groups, to promote or restrict political or religious views, and to prevent slander and libel. Specific rules and regulations regarding censorship vary between legal jurisdictions and/or private organizations.
==Definition== {{Censorship sidebar}}There are many types of censorship.
Moral censorship is the removal of materials that are obscene or otherwise considered morally questionable. Pornography, for example, is often censored under this rationale, especially child pornography, which is illegal and censored in most jurisdictions in the world.<ref>{{cite web|title=Child Pornography: Model Legislation & Global Review|url=http://www.missingkids.com/en_US/documents/CP_Legislation_Report.pdf|publisher=International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children|year=2008|edition=5|access-date=2012-08-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121120173350/http://www.missingkids.com/en_US/documents/CP_Legislation_Report.pdf|archive-date=2012-11-20}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=2002-07-27 |title=World Congress against CSEC |url=http://www.csecworldcongress.org/en/index.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120316121435/http://www.csecworldcongress.org/en/index.htm |archive-date=March 16, 2012 |access-date=2011-10-21 |publisher=Csecworldcongress.org}}</ref>
Military censorship is the process of keeping military intelligence and tactics confidential to safeguard national security and maintain public support.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Military censorship {{!}} Communication and Mass Media {{!}} Research Starters {{!}} EBSCO Research |url=https://www.ebsco.com/ |access-date=2026-02-19 |website=EBSCO |language=en}}</ref> This is used to counter espionage.
Political censorship occurs when governments hold back information from their citizens. This is often done to exert control over the populace and prevent free expression that might foment rebellion.
Religious censorship is the means by which any material considered objectionable by a certain religion is removed. This often involves a dominant religion forcing limitations on less prevalent ones. Alternatively, one religion may shun the works of another when they believe the content is not appropriate for their religion.
Corporate censorship is the process by which editors in corporate media outlets intervene to disrupt the publishing of information that portrays their business or business partners in a negative light,<ref>{{cite book |author=Timothy Jay |url=https://archive.org/details/whywecurseneurop00jayt |title=Why We Curse: A Neuro-psycho-social Theory of Speech |publisher=John Benjamins Publishing Company |year=2000 |isbn=978-1-55619-758-1 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/whywecurseneurop00jayt/page/n224 208]–209 |url-access=limited}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author1=David Goldberg |title=Regulating the Changing Media: A Comparative Study |author2=Stefaan G. Verhulst |author3=Tony Prosser |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-19-826781-2 |page=207}}</ref> or intervene to prevent alternate offers from reaching public exposure.<ref>{{cite web |last=McCullagh |first=Declan |date=2003-06-30 |title=Microsoft's new push in Washington |url=http://news.cnet.com/2010-1071_3-1021938.html |access-date=2011-10-21 |website=CNET}}</ref>
==Rationale and criticism== [[File:Chile quema libros 1973.JPG|thumb|Book burning in Chile following the 1973 coup that installed the Pinochet regime|253x253px]]Censorship is often used to impose moral values on society, as in the censorship of material considered obscene. English novelist E. M. Forster was a staunch opponent of censoring material on the grounds that it was obscene or immoral, raising the issue of moral subjectivity and the constant changing of moral values. When the 1928 novel ''Lady Chatterley's Lover'' was put on trial in 1960, Forster wrote:<ref>[http://dangerousminds.net/comments/the_trial_of_lady_chatterleys_lover "The Trial of 'Lady Chatterley's Lover{{'"}}], Paul Gallagher, Dangerous Minds, 10 November 2010.</ref>
{{blockquote|''Lady Chatterley's Lover'' is a literary work of importance...I do not think that it could be held obscene, but am in a difficulty here, for the reason that I have never been able to follow the legal definition of obscenity. The law tells me that obscenity may deprave and corrupt, but as far as I know, it offers no definition of depravity or corruption.}}
In a 1997 essay, social commentator Michael Landier explains that censorship is counterproductive as it prevents the censored topic from being discussed. He expands his argument by claiming that those who impose censorship must consider what they censor to be true, as individuals believing themselves to be correct would welcome the opportunity to disprove those with opposing views.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.landier.com/michael/essays/censorship/fulltext.htm |title=Internet Censorship is Absurd and Unconstitutional |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190629181900/http://www.landier.com/michael/essays/censorship/fulltext.htm |archive-date=2019-06-29 |first1=Michael |last1=Landier |date=4 June 1997}}</ref>
Plato is said to have advocated censorship in his essay on ''The Republic'', which opposed the existence of democracy. In contrast to Plato, Greek playwright Euripides (480–406 BC) defended the true liberty of freeborn men, including the right to speak freely.<ref name=":0">{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20120321181656/http://www.beaconforfreedom.org/liste.html?tid=415&art_id=475 "The Long History of Censorship"]}}, Mette Newth, Beacon for Freedom of Expression (Norway), 2010</ref>
In 1766, Sweden became the first country to abolish censorship by law.<ref name=":0" />
==Types==
===Political=== {{Excerpt|Political censorship|paragraphs=1|only=paragraphs}}During the Allied occupation of Japan after World World II, any criticism of the Allies' pre-war policies, the SCAP, the Far East Military Tribunal, the inquiries against the United States and every direct and indirect references to the role played by the Allied High Command in drafting Japan's new constitution or to censorship of publications, movies, newspapers and magazines was subject to massive censorship, purges, media blackout.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.jice.or.jp/tech/columns/detail/37 | title=Ghqによる検閲の時代 | access-date=2022-07-23 | archive-date=2022-05-26 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220526082442/https://www.jice.or.jp/tech/columns/detail/37 }}</ref> For the four years (1945–1949) the CCD was active, 200 million pieces of mail and 136 million telegrams were opened, and telephones were tapped 800,000 times. Since no criticism of the occupying forces for crimes such as the dropping of the atomic bomb, rape and robbery by U.S. soldiers was allowed, a strict check was carried out. Those who got caught were put on a blacklist called the watchlist, and the persons and the organizations to which they belonged were investigated in detail, which made it easier to dismiss or arrest them.<ref>{{cite web |date=15 April 2021 |title=「検閲官 発見されたGhq名簿」 著・山本武利 |url=https://www.chosyu-journal.jp/review/20785}}</ref> [[File:Victims of Communism Memorial DBKing A.jpg|thumb|China destroyed the statue ''Goddess of Democracy'' during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989<ref>{{cite news|title=China blocks Tiananmen talk on crackdown anniversary|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-tiananmen-idUSBRE85305320120604|access-date=2013-05-08|newspaper=Reuters|date=June 4, 2012|author=Sui-Lee Wee|author2=Ben Blanchard|archive-date=2015-09-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924164324/http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/04/us-china-tiananmen-idUSBRE85305320120604|url-status=live}}</ref>|200x200px]]From 1956 until 1974, the Irish republican political party Sinn Féin was banned from participating in Northern Irish elections.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bourne |first=Angela |url= |title=Democratic Dilemmas: Why democracies ban political parties. |date=2018 |publisher=Taylor & Francis Group |isbn=978-1-138-89801-1 |location= |page=176}}</ref> From 1988 until 1994, the U.K. prevented media from broadcasting the voices (but not words) of Sinn Féin and ten Irish republican and Ulster loyalist groups.<ref>{{cite news |last=Welch |first=Francis |date=5 April 2005 |title=The 'broadcast ban' on Sinn Féin |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/4409447.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130726210043/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/4409447.stm |archive-date=26 July 2013 |access-date=21 June 2013 |work=BBC News}}</ref>
According to India's Information Technology Rules 2011, objectionable content includes anything that "threatens the unity, integrity, defence, security or sovereignty of India, friendly relations with foreign states or public order".<ref>{{cite news |date=7 December 2011 |title=Uncle dictates, cyber boys dispose – Sibal to work on norms for social sites |url=http://telegraphindia.com/1111207/jsp/nation/story_14848886.jsp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160322061556/http://www.telegraphindia.com/1111207/jsp/nation/story_14848886.jsp |archive-date=22 March 2016 |access-date=2 June 2020 |work=The Telegraph |location=Calcutta, India}}</ref>
Iraq under Baathist Saddam Hussein had much the same techniques of press censorship, as did Romania under Ceauşescu, but with greater potential violence.<ref>{{Citation |last=Svolik |first=Milan W. |title=The World of Authoritarian Politics |work=The Politics of Authoritarian Rule |pages=19–50 |year=2012 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/cbo9781139176040.002 |isbn=978-1-139-17604-0}}</ref>
Article 299 of the Turkish Penal Code deems it illegal to "Insult the President of Turkey"''.'' A person who is sentenced for a violation of this article can be sentenced to a prison term between one and four years and if the violation was made in public the verdict can be elevated by a sixth.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Tecimer |first1=Cem |date=2018-07-20 |title=The Curious Case of Article 299 of the Turkish Penal Code: Insulting the Turkish President |url=https://verfassungsblog.de/the-curious-case-of-article-299-of-the-turkish-penal-code-insulting-the-turkish-president/ |url-status=live |journal=Verfassungsblog: On Matters Constitutional |language=en-US |doi=10.17176/20180720-091632-0 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201117001209/https://verfassungsblog.de/the-curious-case-of-article-299-of-the-turkish-penal-code-insulting-the-turkish-president/ |archive-date=2020-11-17}}</ref> Prosecutions often target critics of the government, independent journalists, and political cartoonists.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Eko |first1=Lyombe |title=The Charlie Hebdo Affair and Comparative Journalistic Cultures: Human Rights Versus Religious Rites |date=2019 |publisher=Springer International Publishing |isbn=978-3-030-18079-9 |page=208 |language=en |chapter=The Charlie Hebdo Affair in Turkey: Balancing Human Rights and Religious Rites}}</ref> Between 2014 and 2019, 128,872 investigations were launched for this offense and prosecutors opened 27,717 criminal cases.<ref>{{cite news |date=15 January 2021 |title=Investigation Highlights Spike in Cases of Insulting Turkish President |url=https://balkaninsight.com/2021/01/15/investigation-highlights-spike-in-cases-of-insulting-turkish-president/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210202135654/https://balkaninsight.com/2021/01/15/investigation-highlights-spike-in-cases-of-insulting-turkish-president/ |archive-date=2 February 2021 |work=Balkan Insight}}</ref>
In French-speaking Belgium, politicians considered far-right are banned from live media appearances such as interviews or debates.<ref>{{cite web |last=Joyner |first=Ella |date=2024-06-04 |title=Belgian election tests limits of media's far-right boycott |url=https://www.dw.com/en/belgian-election-tests-limits-of-medias-far-right-boycott/a-69161435 |access-date=2024-10-25 |website=dw.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=DEMEESTERE |first=Matthieu |date=2024-05-06 |title=Belgium's Far Right Struggles To Break Through Media Ban |url=https://www.barrons.com/news/belgium-s-far-right-struggles-to-break-through-media-ban-9ad06ef4 |access-date=2024-10-25 |website=Barron's}}</ref>
===State secrets and prevention of attention=== [[File:Putin palace luxury furniture 2.jpg|thumb|200px|A visitor inside Putin's Palace in Russia, who presumably censored their face to avoid legal retaliation for distributing the photo|left]] Censorship is occasionally carried out to aid authorities or to protect an individual, as with some kidnappings when attention and media coverage of the victim can sometimes be seen as unhelpful.<ref>{{cite web |date=June 29, 2009 |title=Keeping News of Kidnapping Off Wikipedia |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/29/technology/internet/29wiki.html_r=1&ref=todayspaper |work=The New York Times}}</ref>
In wartime, explicit censorship is carried out with the intent of preventing the release of information that might be useful to an enemy. Typically it involves keeping times or locations secret, or delaying the release of information (e.g., an operational objective) until it is of no possible use to enemy forces. The moral issues here are often seen as somewhat different, as the proponents of this form of censorship argue that the release of tactical information usually presents a greater risk of casualties among one's own forces and could possibly lead to loss of the overall conflict.{{cn|date=November 2024}}
During World War I, letters sent by British soldiers back to the U.K. would have to go through censorship. This consisted of officers going through letters with a black marker and crossing out anything which might compromise operational secrecy before the letter was sent.<ref>Eberhard Demm: [https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/censorship Censorship], in: [https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/home.html/ 1914–1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War].</ref> The World War II catchphrase "Loose lips sink ships" was used as a common justification to exercise official wartime censorship and encourage individual restraint when sharing potentially sensitive information.<ref>Eberhard Demm, ''Censorship and Propaganda in World War I: A Comprehensive History'' (Bloomsbury Academic, 2019) [http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=56607 online review]</ref> ===Religion=== {{Main|Religious censorship|Blasphemy law}}
[[File:PynchonBooksBurned.png|thumb|Portrayal of the burning of William Pynchon's 1650 treatise on Puritanical Calvinism in the Massachusetts Bay Colony]]Religious censorship is a form of censorship where freedom of expression is controlled or limited using religious authority or on the basis of the teachings of the religion.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Steele, Philip|title=Censorship|date=1992|publisher=New Discovery Books|isbn=0-02-735404-0|oclc=24871121}}</ref> This form of censorship has a long history and is practiced in many societies and by many religions. Examples include the Galileo affair, Edict of Compiègne, the Index Librorum Prohibitorum (list of prohibited books) and the condemnation of Salman Rushdie's novel ''The Satanic Verses'' by Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Images of the Islamic figure Muhammad are also regularly censored, even in secular or less Islamic countries to avoid controversy.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://ncert.nic.in/textbook/textbook.htm?iess4=6-6|title=National Council Of Educational Research And Training :: Home (Page 105, Democratic Politics – Class 9)|website=National Council of Educational Research and Training|access-date=2017-12-12}}</ref>
Socrates, while defying attempts by the Athenian state of Ancient Greece to censor his philosophical teachings, was brought charges that led to his death. The conviction is recorded by Plato: in 399 BC, Socrates went on trial<ref>M.F. Burnyeat (1997), [https://learning.hccs.edu/faculty/nathan.poage/phil1301/secondary-sources-on-plato/burnyeat-the-impiety-of-socrates/view The Impiety of Socrates] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201035051/https://learning.hccs.edu/faculty/nathan.poage/phil1301/secondary-sources-on-plato/burnyeat-the-impiety-of-socrates/view |date=2017-12-01 }} Mathesis publications; Ancient Philosophy 17 Accessed November 23, 2017</ref> and was subsequently found guilty of both corrupting the minds of the youth of Athens and of impiety (''asebeia'',<ref>Debra Nails, [https://books.google.com/books?id=5fYpie_C5BMC&pg=PT364 ''A Companion to Greek and Roman Political Thought''] [https://books.google.com/books?id=5fYpie_C5BMC&dq=Death+of+Socrates+by+execution&pg=PT364 Chapter 21 – The Trial and Death of Socrates] John Wiley & Sons, 2012 {{ISBN|1118556682}} Accessed November 23, 2017</ref> "not believing in the gods of the state"),<ref>Plato. ''Apology'', 24–27.</ref> and was sentenced to death.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Warren |first1=J |year=2001 |title=Socratic suicide |journal=J Hell Stud |volume=121 |pages=91–106 |doi=10.2307/631830 |issn=0075-4269 |jstor=631830 |pmid=19681231 |s2cid=24221544}}</ref><ref>Linder, Doug (2002). [http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/socrates/socratesaccount.html "The Trial of Socrates"]. University of Missouri–Kansas City School of Law. Retrieved September 12, 2013.</ref><ref>[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/551948/Socrates "Socrates (Greek philosopher)"]. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved September 12, 2013.</ref>
The Constitution of India guarantees freedom of expression, but places certain restrictions on content, with a view towards maintaining communal and religious harmony, given the history of communal tension in the nation.<ref>"[http://indiacode.nic.in/coiweb/fullact1.asp?tfnm=00 The Constitution of India] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101124001157/http://indiacode.nic.in/coiweb/fullact1.asp?tfnm=00%2023|date=24 November 2010}}" 658.79 KiB, India Code. Retrieved 3 June 2006.</ref>
Under the Penang Islamic Religious Administration Enactment 2004, non-Muslims in Malaysia are penalized for speaking, writing, or publishing numerous words and phrases relevant to Islam, in any language or context, including: ''Allah'', ''al Quran'', ''fatwa'', ''hadith'', ''Haji'', ''Kaaba'', ''imam'', and ''sheikh''''.''<ref>{{cite news |title=Check law first, Karpal asks Penang government over decree banning 'Islamic words' |url=http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/check-law-first-karpal-asks-penang-government-over-decree-banning-muslim-wo |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140115063512/http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/check-law-first-karpal-asks-penang-government-over-decree-banning-muslim-wo |archive-date=2014-01-15 |newspaper=Malaysia Insider}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |year=2014 |title=Penang mufti outlaws 40 words to non-Muslims |url=http://www.nst.com.my/nation/general/penang-mufti-outlaws-40-words-to-non-muslims-1.459685 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140111074402/http://www.nst.com.my/nation/general/penang-mufti-outlaws-40-words-to-non-muslims-1.459685 |archive-date=2014-01-11 |newspaper=New Straits Times}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=2012 |title=Enactment |url=http://mufti.penang.gov.my/index.php/en/fatwa/islamic-religious-administration-enactment-2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140421082325/http://mufti.penang.gov.my/index.php/en/fatwa/islamic-religious-administration-enactment-2004 |archive-date=April 21, 2014 |access-date=2014-09-14 |publisher=Jabatan Mufti Negeri}}</ref>
===Educational sources=== [[File:Grech old russian censorship.jpg|thumb|An 1886 book by Russian author ''N.I. Grech'', which had some of its text censored and replaced with dots before publication|left]]
The way facts and history are presented in schools greatly influences students' interpretation of various subjects. One argument for censoring the type of information disseminated is based on the inappropriate quality of such material for the young people; what "inappropriate" means in this context is in itself controversial, as it has changed heavily. A Ballantine Books version of the book ''Fahrenheit 451'', which is the version used by most school classes,<ref>Bradbury, Ray. ''Fahrenheit 451''. Del Rey Books. April 1991.</ref> contained approximately 75 separate edits, omissions, and changes from the author's original manuscript.
The content of school textbooks is often an issue. The term "whitewashing" is commonly used to refer to revisionism aimed at glossing over difficult or questionable historical events, or a biased presentation thereof. The reporting of military atrocities in history is extremely controversial, as in the case of the Holocaust (or Holocaust denial), bombing of Dresden, the Nanking Massacre, as found with Japanese history textbook controversies, the Armenian genocide, the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, and the Winter Soldier Investigation of the Vietnam War.
On the censorship of critical perspectives of U.S. history in American schools, a study published by Indiana University in 2024 found that "in 16 Republican-dominated states, policies have been enacted to restrict the teaching of critical perspectives on race, sexuality, and other controversial subjects and to perpetuate a positive view of U.S. history".<ref>{{cite news |title=Censorship of Critical Perspectives in American Schools |url=https://education.indiana.edu/ceep/education-policy/policy-briefs/2024/censorship-of-critical-perspectives-in-american-schools.html |access-date=August 17, 2025 |publisher=Indiana University}}</ref> In 2019, Julia Carrie Wong wrote "today's reactionaries are picking up the mantle of generations of Americans who have fought to ensure that white children are taught a version of America's past that is more hagiographic than historic", with examples cited including Oregon enacting a law in the 1920s that banned the use of any textbook in schools that "speaks slightingly of the founders", to Lynne Cheney, the chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities, launching a campaign in the 1990s against an effort to introduce new standards for teaching U.S. history which she found insufficiently "celebratory".<ref>{{cite news |title=The fight to whitewash US history: 'A drop of poison is all you need' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/25/critical-race-theory-us-history-1619-project |access-date=August 17, 2025 |work=The Guardian}}</ref>
Online access to all language versions of Wikipedia was blocked in Turkey on 29 April 2017 by Erdoğan's government.<ref>{{Cite news |date=29 April 2017 |title=Turkish authorities block Wikipedia without giving reason |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-39754909 |newspaper=BBC News |language=en-GB}}</ref>
=== Economic induced censorship === {{See also|Funding bias}} Economic induced censorship is a type of censorship enacted by economic markets to favor, and disregard, types of information. Economic induced censorship is also caused by market forces which privatize and establish commodification of certain information that is not accessible by the general public, primarily because of the cost associated with commodified information such as academic journals, industry reports and pay to use repositories.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Cypherpunks: freedom and the future of the internet|url=https://archive.org/details/cypherpunksfreed00assa_936|url-access=limited|last=Assange|first=Julian|publisher=OR Books|others=Appelbaum, Jacob; Müller-Maguhn, Andy; Zimmermann, Jérémie|year=2012|isbn=978-1-939293-00-8|location=New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/cypherpunksfreed00assa_936/page/n132 123]–124|oclc=812780303}}</ref>
The concept was illustrated as a censorship pyramid<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.counterfire.org/index.php/articles/book-reviews/16631-cypherpunks-freedom-and-the-future-of-the-internet|title=Cypherpunks: Freedom and the Future of the Internet|last=Pope-Weidemann|first=Marienna|date=13 September 2013 <!-- 06:39 -->|website=Counterfire|language=en-gb|archive-url=https://archive.today/20140507210748/http://www.counterfire.org/index.php/articles/book-reviews/16631-cypherpunks-freedom-and-the-future-of-the-internet|archive-date=7 May 2014|url-status=live|access-date=2019-04-23|df=dmy-all}}</ref> that was conceptualized primarily by Julian Assange, along with Andy Müller-Maguhn, Jacob Appelbaum and Jérémie Zimmermann, in the book ''Cypherpunks''.{{cn|date=February 2026}}
Amid declining car sales in 2020, France banned a television ad by a Dutch bike company, saying the ad "unfairly discredited the automobile industry".<ref>{{cite web |last=Boffey |first=Daniel |date=1 July 2020 |title=France bans Dutch bike TV ad for creating 'climate of fear' about cars |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/jul/01/france-bans-dutch-bike-tv-ad-for-creating-climate-of-fear |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201216084257/https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/jul/01/france-bans-dutch-bike-tv-ad-for-creating-climate-of-fear |archive-date=16 December 2020 |website=The Guardian}}</ref>
===Self-censorship=== {{Main|Self-censorship}}
[[File:EFTA00005586.pdf|thumb|238x238px|A PDF of 118 pages of the Epstein Files, U.S. federal records on child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, that were blacked out by the Department of Justice before release in 2025]] Self-censorship is the act of censoring or classifying one's own discourse. This is done out of fear of, or deference to, the sensibilities or preferences (actual or perceived) of others and without overt pressure from any specific party or institution of authority. Self-censorship is often practiced by film producers, film directors, publishers, news anchors, journalists, musicians, and other kinds of authors, including individuals who use social media.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://rm.coe.int/168070ad5d|title=Journalism under pressure. Unwarranted interference, fear and self-censorship in Europe|last1=Clark|first1=Marilyn|last2=Grech|first2=Anna|publisher=Council of Europe publishing|year=2017|location=Strasbourg|access-date=12 May 2017}}</ref>
According to a Pew Research Center and the ''Columbia Journalism Review'' survey, "About one-quarter of the local and national journalists say they have purposely avoided newsworthy stories, while nearly as many acknowledge they have softened the tone of stories to benefit the interests of their news organizations. Fully four-in-ten (41%) admit they have engaged in either or both of these practices."<ref>{{Cite web |date=2000-04-30 |title=Self Censorship: How Often and Why |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2000/04/30/self-censorship-how-often-and-why/ |access-date=2025-10-15 |website=Pew Research Center |language=en-US}}</ref>
Threats to media freedom have shown a significant increase in Europe in recent years, according to a study published in April 2017 by the Council of Europe. This results in a fear of physical or psychological violence, and the ultimate result is self-censorship by journalists.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.coe.int/en/web/portal/-/en-europe-les-journalistes-sont-exposes-a-la-violence-aux-intimidations-et-a-l-autocensure-selon-une-etude-du-conseil-de-l-europe|title=Journalists suffer violence, intimidation and self-censorship in Europe, says a Council of Europe study|date=20 April 2017|work=Council of Europe. Newsroom|access-date=12 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170511220332/http://www.coe.int/en/web/portal/-/en-europe-les-journalistes-sont-exposes-a-la-violence-aux-intimidations-et-a-l-autocensure-selon-une-etude-du-conseil-de-l-europe|archive-date=2017-05-11}}</ref>
===Copy, picture, and writer approval=== Copy approval is the right to read and amend an article, usually an interview, before publication. Many publications{{Which|date=June 2025}} refuse to give copy approval but it is increasingly becoming common practice when dealing with publicity anxious celebrities.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2005/apr/23/commentanddebate.mainsection|title=The readers' editor on requests that are always refused|author=Ian Mayes|date=2005-04-23|access-date=2007-08-01|newspaper=The Guardian|location=London}}</ref> Picture approval is the right given to an individual to choose which photos will be published and which will not. Robert Redford is well known for insisting upon picture approval. Writer approval is when writers are chosen based on whether they will write flattering articles or not. American entertainment publicist Pat Kingsley is known for banning certain writers who wrote undesirably about one of her clients from interviewing any of her other clients.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2002/jan/27/features.magazine47|title=Caution: big name ahead|last=Barber|first=Lynn|date=2002-01-27|access-date=2007-08-01|newspaper=The Observer|location=London}}</ref>
===Reverse censorship=== Flooding the public, often through online social networks, with false or misleading information is sometimes called "reverse censorship". American legal scholar Tim Wu has explained that this type of information control, sometimes by state actors, can "distort or drown out disfavored speech through the creation and dissemination of fake news, the payment of fake commentators, and the deployment of propaganda robots."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wu |first=Tim |date=2017 |title=Is the First Amendment Obsolete? |url=https://www.ssrn.com/abstract=3096337 |journal=SSRN Electronic Journal |language=en |doi=10.2139/ssrn.3096337 |issn=1556-5068}}</ref>
===Soft censorship=== {{See also|Media manipulation|Media bias|Independent media#Influences in media systems}} Soft censorship or indirect censorship is the practice of influencing news coverage for example by applying financial pressure on media companies that are deemed critical of a government or its policies and rewarding media outlets and individual journalists who are seen as friendly to the government.<ref>Center for International Media Assistance, ''Soft Censorship: How Governments Around the Globe Use Money to Manipulate the Media'', http://cima.ned.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/cima-soft_censorship-report.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100707065242/http://cima.ned.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/cima-soft_censorship-report.pdf |date=2010-07-07 }}.</ref>
===Financial censorship=== {{Main|Financial censorship}}
Financial censorship is when financial institutions and payment intermediaries debank accounts or inhibit transactions and influence what kind of speech can exist online.<ref>{{cite web | author = <!-- Unspecified by source. --> | date = <!-- Unspecified by source. --> | title = Financial Censorship | work = Issues > Free Speech Issues > Free Speech Topics | publisher = Electronic Frontier Foundation | url = https://www.eff.org./issues/financial-censorship | access-date = 2025-07-25 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20250712074305/https://www.eff.org/issues/financial-censorship | archive-date = 2025-07-12 | url-status = live }} </ref> Perceived examples of financial censorship include: * 2010 WikiLeaks financial censorship by Visa Inc. and Mastercard {{See also|Visa Inc.#WikiLeaks}} {{See also|Mastercard#Blocking payments to WikiLeaks}}
* 2025 Steam (service) financial censorship by Mastercard {{See also|Steam (service)#Mature content and moderation}}
==By media== ===Literature=== {{Main|Book censorship}}
[[File:1933-may-10-berlin-book-burning.JPG|thumb|Nazi book burning in Berlin, May 1933]]Book censorship can be enacted at the national or sub-national level, and can carry legal penalties for their infraction. Books may also be challenged at a local, community level. As a result, books can be removed from schools or libraries, although these bans do not typically extend outside of that area.
Throughout the Eastern Bloc, the various ministries of culture held a tight rein on their writers.<ref name="major15">{{Harvnb|Major|Mitter|2004|p=15}}</ref> Cultural products there reflected the propaganda needs of the state.<ref name="major15" /> Party-approved censors exercised strict control in the early years.<ref name="crampton247">{{Harvnb|Crampton|1997|p=247}}</ref>
In 1973, a military coup took power in Uruguay, and the new government practiced censorship. For example, writer Eduardo Galeano was imprisoned and later was forced to flee. His book Open Veins of Latin America was banned by the right-wing military government, not only in Uruguay, but also in Chile and Argentina.<ref>{{cite web |date=28 May 2009 |title=Fresh Off Worldwide Attention for Joining Obama's Book Collection, Uruguayan Author Eduardo Galeano Returns with "Mirrors: Stories of Almost Everyone" |url=http://www.democracynow.org/2009/5/28/eduardo |access-date=2011-10-21 |publisher=Democracynow.org}}</ref>
=== Journalism === Independent journalism did not exist in the Soviet Union until Mikhail Gorbachev became its leader. Gorbachev adopted glasnost (openness), political reform aimed at reducing censorship; before glasnost all reporting was directed by the Communist Party or related organizations. Pravda, the predominant newspaper in the Soviet Union, had a monopoly. Foreign newspapers were available only if they were published by communist parties sympathetic to the Soviet Union.[[File:WieczorWroclawia20marca1981.jpg|thumb|A 1981 newspaper in the Polish People's Republic, supporting the Solidarity trade union by censoring a government-mandated propaganda section]]In the Eastern Bloc during the Cold War, possession and use of copying machines was tightly controlled in order to hinder the production and distribution of samizdat, illegal self-published books and magazines. <!-- Page 308 {{ISBN|0886876540}} --> Possession of even a single samizdat manuscript such as a book by Andrei Sinyavsky was a serious crime which might involve a visit from the KGB. <!--Page 309 {{ISBN|0886876540}} -->Another outlet for works which did not find favor with the authorities was publishing abroad.
In the U.S., under FCC v. Pacifica Foundation, the FCC has the power to prohibit the transmission of indecent material of obscene material over broadcast. Critics of campaign finance reform in the United States say this reform imposes widespread restrictions on political speech.<ref>{{cite news |title=The Trick of Campaign Finance Reform |url=http://www.giantleap.org/envision/campaign.htm |newspaper=Christian Science Monitor}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=April 2009 |title=Felonious Advocacy |url=http://www.reason.com/news/show/132594.html |publisher=reason}}</ref>[[File:Censuraindex.jpg|thumb|Censored pre-press proof of two articles from ''Notícias da Amadora'', a Portuguese newspaper, 1970]]According to Christian Mihr, executive director of Reporters Without Borders, "censorship in Serbia is neither direct nor transparent, but is easy to prove."<ref name="b92.net">{{cite news |date=February 19, 2015 |title="Censorship in Serbia is easy to prove" - RWB |url=http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics.php?yyyy=2015&mm=02&dd=19&nav_id=93238 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151004031830/http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics.php?yyyy=2015&mm=02&dd=19&nav_id=93238 |archive-date=2015-10-04 |website=b92.net}}</ref> He writes that Serbian prime minister Aleksandar Vučić has proved "very sensitive to criticism, even on critical questions," as was the case with Natalija Miletic, a correspondent for Deutsche Welle Radio, who questioned him in Berlin about the media situation in Serbia and about allegations that some ministers in the Serbian government had plagiarized their diplomas, and who later received threats and offensive articles on the Serbian press.<ref name="b92.net" /> Multiple news outlets have accused Vučić of anti-democratic strongman tendencies.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Filipovic |first=Gordana |date=March 27, 2017 |title=How a Premier May Become a Strongman in Serbia: QuickTake Q&A |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-27/how-a-premier-may-become-a-strongman-in-serbia-quicktake-q-a |access-date=2018-09-18 |website=Bloomberg}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Nougayrède |first=Natalie |date=2018-04-11 |title=Beware the chameleon strongmen of Europe |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/apr/11/viktor-orban-aleksandar-vucic-europe-eu |url-access=registration |access-date=2018-09-18 |website=The Guardian |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Karnitschnig |first=Matthew |date=2016-04-14 |title=Serbia's latest would-be savior is a modernizer, a strongman – or both |url=https://www.politico.eu/article/aleksandar-vucic-serbias-latest-savior-is-a-modernizer-or-strongman-or-both/ |access-date=2018-09-18 |work=Politico Europe |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Janjevic |first=Darko |date=June 18, 2017 |title=EU and the Balkans: Brussels' favorite strongmen |url=https://www.dw.com/en/eu-and-the-balkans-brussels-favorite-strongmen/a-39294081 |access-date=2018-09-18 |website=DW |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Anastasijevic |first=Dejan |date=April 4, 2017 |title=Serbia's Vucic stronger than ever |url=https://euobserver.com/beyond-brussels/137490 |access-date=2018-09-18 |work=EU Observer |language=en}}</ref> In July 2014, journalists associations were concerned about the freedom of the media in Serbia, in which Vučić came under criticism.<ref>{{cite news |title=Die Pampigkeit des Herrn Vučić – In Serbien werden Internetseiten attackiert, Blogs gesperrt und Blogger festgenommen. Die Betroffenen berichteten wohl zu kritisch über die Regierung |trans-title=The stroppiness of Mr. Vučić – In Serbia being attacked websites, blocked blogs and arrested bloggers. The victims reported probably too critical about the government |url=http://www.taz.de/!142741/ |newspaper=Die Tageszeitung |language=German}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Serbische Regierung zensiert Medien – Ein Virus namens Zensur |url=http://www.taz.de/!139279 |access-date=9 December 2015 |newspaper=Die Tageszeitung |language=de}}</ref> In September 2015, five members of U.S. Congress informed U.S. vice president Joseph Biden that Aleksandar's brother, Andrej Vučić, is leading a group responsible for deteriorating media freedom in Serbia.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Čogradin |first=Snežana |date=4 November 2016 |title=What is Andrej Vučić occupation? |url=https://www.danas.rs/drustvo/cime-se-bavi-andrej-vucic/ |work=Danas}}</ref>
Although the Russian Constitution has an article expressly prohibiting censorship,<ref>{{cite news |date=18 March 2022 |title=Explained: What Russia's war on Ukraine has meant for its news media |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-russia-war-ukraine-news-media-7825151/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220329004411/https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-russia-war-ukraine-news-media-7825151/ |archive-date=29 March 2022 |work=The Indian Express}}</ref> the Russian censorship apparatus ''Roskomnadzor'' ordered the country's media to only use information from Russian state sources or face fines and blocks.<ref>{{Cite news |date=24 February 2022 |title=Use Only Official Sources About Ukraine War, Russian Media Watchdog Tells Journalists |url=https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/02/24/use-only-official-sources-about-ukraine-war-russian-media-watchdog-tells-journalists-a76567 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220224123216/https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/02/24/use-only-official-sources-about-ukraine-war-russian-media-watchdog-tells-journalists-a76567 |archive-date=24 February 2022 |website=Moscow Times}}</ref> In March 2022, Russian president Vladimir Putin signed into law a bill introducing prison sentences of up to 15 years for those who publish "knowingly false information" about the Russian military and its operations, leading to some media outlets in Russia to stop reporting on Ukraine or shutting their media outlet.<ref>{{Cite news |date=3 April 2022 |title=Over 150 Journalists Flee Russia Amid Wartime Crackdown On Free Press – Reports |url=https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/03/07/over-150-journalists-flee-russia-amid-wartime-crackdown-on-free-press-reports-a76809 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220308225548/https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/03/07/over-150-journalists-flee-russia-amid-wartime-crackdown-on-free-press-reports-a76809 |archive-date=8 March 2022 |work=Moscow Times |quote=Dozhd, Ekho Moskvy and Znak have closed down after being blocked by the authorities}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=4 March 2022 |title=Putin Signs Law Introducing Jail Terms for 'Fake News' on Army |url=https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/03/04/putin-signs-law-introducing-jail-terms-for-fake-news-on-army-a76768 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220314132340/https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/03/04/putin-signs-law-introducing-jail-terms-for-fake-news-on-army-a76768 |archive-date=14 March 2022 |website=Moscow Times}}</ref> In March 2022, ''Novaya Gazeta'' suspended its print activities after receiving a second warning from ''Roskomnadzor''.<ref>{{cite web |date=28 March 2022 |title=Russia's Novaya Gazeta newspaper pauses activities after official warning |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russias-novaya-gazeta-newspaper-pauses-activities-after-official-warning-2022-03-28/ |website=Reuters}}</ref> As of December 2022, more than 4,000 people were prosecuted under "fake news" laws in connection with the Russian invasion of Ukraine.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Weir |first1=Fred |date=5 December 2022 |title=In Russia, critiquing the Ukraine war could land you in prison |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2022/1205/In-Russia-critiquing-the-Ukraine-war-could-land-you-in-prison |work=CSMonitor.com}}</ref> Russian opposition politician Ilya Yashin was sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in prison for discussing the Bucha massacre in Ukraine on a YouTube stream.
===Films=== {{Main|Film censorship}}
Aside from the usual justifications of pornography and obscenity, some films are censored due to changing racial attitudes or political correctness in order to avoid ethnic stereotyping and/or ethnic offense, despite its historical or artistic value. One example is the still withdrawn "Censored Eleven" series of animated cartoons, which may have been innocent then, but are "incorrect" now.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Fitzpatrick |first=Laura |date=2010-04-27 |title=Top 10 Controversial Cartoons - TIME |language=en-US |magazine=Time |url=https://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1984966_1984961_1984611,00.html |access-date=2023-10-20 |issn=0040-781X}}</ref>
Film censorship is carried out by various countries by censoring the producer or restricting a state citizen. For example, in China, the film industry censors LGBT-related films. Filmmakers must resort to finding funds from international investors, such as the Ford Foundation, and or produce through an independent film company.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Shaw|first1=Gareth|last2=Zhang|first2=Xiaoling|date=July 2018|title=Cyberspace and gay rights in a digital China: Queer documentary filmmaking under state censorship|url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0920203X17734134|journal=China Information|language=en|volume=32|issue=2|pages=270–292|doi=10.1177/0920203X17734134|s2cid=148751332|issn=0920-203X}}</ref>
In Singapore, the Films Act originally banned the making, distribution and exhibition of "party political films", with punishment being a fine or imprisonment.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Films Act – Singapore Statutes Online |url=https://sso.agc.gov.sg/Act/FA1981 |access-date=2020-11-24 |website=sso.agc.gov.sg |language=en}}</ref> It defines a "party political film" as any film or video
:(a) which is an advertisement made by or on behalf of any political party in Singapore or any body whose objects relate wholly or mainly to politics in Singapore, or any branch of such party or body; or :(b) which is made by any person and directed towards any political end in Singapore
In 2001, the short documentary called ''A Vision of Persistence'', on opposition politician J. B. Jeyaretnam, was banned under this law. The makers of the documentary, all lecturers at the Ngee Ann Polytechnic, submitted written apologies, and withdrew the documentary from the 2001 Singapore International Film Festival.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2014-09-16 |title=Heard about the film Singapore has banned its people from seeing? |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/have-you-heard-about-film-singapore-has-banned-its-people-watching-well-you-have-now-9736530.html |access-date=2020-11-24 |website=The Independent |language=en}}</ref> Another short documentary called ''Singapore Rebel'' by Martyn See, which documented Singapore Democratic Party leader Dr Chee Soon Juan's acts of civil disobedience, was banned from the 2005 Singapore International Film Festival.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2005-09-26 |title=Police investigation of filmmaker intensifies; SEAPA urges authorities to end probe and repeal Films Act |url=https://ifex.org/police-investigation-of-filmmaker-intensifies-seapa-urges-authorities-to-end-probe-and-repeal-films-act/ |access-date=2020-11-24 |website=IFEX |language=en-US}}</ref> This law, is often disregarded when such political films are made supporting the ruling People's Action Party (PAP). Channel NewsAsia's documentary series on PAP ministers in 2005, for example, was not considered a party political film.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Tan |first=Kenneth Paul |date=2016-04-02 |title=Choosing What to Remember in Neoliberal Singapore: The Singapore Story, State Censorship and State-Sponsored Nostalgia |journal=Asian Studies Review |volume=40 |issue=2 |pages=231–249 |doi=10.1080/10357823.2016.1158779 |issn=1035-7823 |s2cid=147095200}}</ref> Exceptions are also made for political films about other nations, such as Michael Moore's 2004 documentary ''Fahrenheit 911'' about the U.S.<ref>{{Cite web |date=4 October 2014 |title=Competing narratives is a boon, not a bane |url=http://sg.news.yahoo.com/blogs/singaporescene/competing-narratives-is-a-boon-not-a-bane-080122683.html |access-date=2020-11-24 |website=sg.news.yahoo.com |language=en-SG}}</ref> In 2009, the law was amended to allow party political films as long as they were deemed factual and objective by a consultative committee.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2009-03-23 |title=Singapore eases law on political films |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-singapore-films-idUSTRE52M29320090323 |access-date=2020-11-24 |work=Reuters |language=en}}</ref>
===Music=== {{Main|Censorship of music}}
Music censorship has been implemented by states, religions, educational systems, families, retailers, and lobbying groups.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.freemuse.org/sw2338.asp|title=What is Music Censorship?|publisher=Freemuse.org|date=1 January 2001|access-date=2008-10-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081106184751/http://www.freemuse.org/sw2338.asp|archive-date=6 November 2008}}</ref> ===Maps=== <!-- http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/09/28/0033216 --> {{Main|Cartographic censorship}}
Censorship of maps is often employed for military purposes. For example, the technique was used in former East Germany, especially concerning the areas near the border with West Germany, in order to make defection attempts more difficult. Censorship of maps is also applied by Google Maps, where certain areas are grayed or blacked out or are purposely left outdated with old imagery.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/21/AR2007072101296.html|title=Google's View of D.C. Melds New and Sharp, Old and Fuzzy|access-date=2007-07-22|publisher=Washington Post|author=Jenna Johnson|work=News | date=2007-07-22}}</ref> ===Art=== [[File:Ausstellung entartete kunst 1937.jpg|alt=Nazi art show|thumb|Nazi Germany banned art it deemed "degenerate", then displayed those banned works in the Degenerate Art Exhibition|300x300px]] An example of art censorship was the Nazis' requirements of using art as propaganda. Art was only allowed to be used as a political instrument to control people and failure to act in accordance with the censors was punishable by law, even fatal. The Degenerate Art Exhibition was a historical instance of this, the goal of which was to advertise Nazi values and slander others.<ref>{{Citation|chapter=Introduction: The Site of the Social |date=2016-01-31 |pages=1–24 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-1-4008-7380-7 |doi=10.1515/9781400873807-002 |title=Site Reading}}</ref>
Destroying or oppressing art is often seen as justifying its meaning even more.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Freedberg |first=David |year=2016 |title=The Fear of Art: How Censorship Becomes Iconoclasm |journal=Social Research |volume=83 |pages=67–99 |doi=10.1353/sor.2016.0019 |s2cid=147789598 |via=eHOST}}</ref>
Moath al-Alwi is a prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp who creates model ships as an expression of art. Alwi does so with the few tools he has at his disposal such as dental floss and shampoo bottles, and he is also allowed to use a small pair of scissors with rounded edges.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/27/opinion/guantanamo-art-prisoners.html |last=Thompson |first=Erin |title=Opinion: Art Censorship at Guantánamo Bay |work=The New York Times |date=27 November 2017 |access-date=7 February 2021}}</ref> For some time, a few of Alwi's pieces, and some artworks of other Guantanamo prisoners, were on display at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York; by 2011, the military introduced a policy that disallowed artwork to leave the detention center. The artwork created by the prisoners became government property, which can be destroyed or disposed of in whatever way the government chooses.<ref>{{Citation|last=Chatterjee |first=Deen K. |chapter=Guantanamo Bay Prisoners |date=2011 |page=467 |publisher=Springer Netherlands |isbn=978-1-4020-9159-9 |doi=10.1007/978-1-4020-9160-5_1038 |title=Encyclopedia of Global Justice}}</ref>
[[File:Flag of Palestine.svg|thumb|From 1980 to 1993, Israel banned artworks composed of the four colors of the Palestinian flag{{efn|For colorblind users: black, red, white, and green}} |left|230x230px]] A 1980 Israeli law forbade banned artwork composed of the four colors of the Palestinian flag,<ref>{{cite report |title=Discourse, Culture, and Education in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict |last1=Ashley |first1=John |last2=Jayousi |first2=Nedal |date=December 2013 |publisher=Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Israel Office |page=55 |quote=In 1980, Israel banned art exhibitions and paintings of "political significance", with the grouping of the four colours of the Palestinian flag in any one painting also forbidden. |access-date=21 May 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190210044601/https://www.netanya.ac.il/englishSite/Centers/DialogueCenter/Academic-publications/Documents/Discourse.pdf |archive-date=10 February 2019 |chapter-url=https://www.netanya.ac.il/englishSite/Centers/DialogueCenter/Academic-publications/Documents/Discourse.pdf |website=Netanya Academic College |chapter=The Connection between Palestinian Culture and the Conflict}}</ref> and Palestinians were arrested for displaying such artwork or even for carrying sliced melons with the same pattern.<ref>{{cite news |last=Kifner |first=John |date=October 16, 1993 |title=Ramallah Journal; A Palestinian Version of the Judgment of Solomon |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE6DD1230F935A25753C1A965958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2 |access-date=May 21, 2010 |work=The New York Times}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Dalrymple |first=William |date=October 2, 2002 |title=A culture under fire |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2002/oct/02/art.artsfeatures |access-date=May 21, 2010 |work=The Guardian |location=London}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=September 12, 2004 |title=The watermelon makes a colourful interlude |url=http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/09/11/1094789742807.html?from=storylhs |work=The Age |location=Melbourne}}</ref>
Around 300 artists in Cuba are fighting for their artistic freedom due to new censorship rules Cuba's government has in place for artists. In December 2018, following the introduction of new rules that would ban music performances and artwork not authorized by the state, performance artist Tania Bruguera was detained upon arriving to Havana and released after four days.<ref>{{Cite journal|title= Censorship Reports |journal=Nigeria: Abacha's Media Crackdown |doi=10.1163/2210-7975_hrd-2210-0161}}</ref>
=== Photography === An example of "sanitization" policies comes from the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin, where publicly used photographs were often altered to remove people whom Stalin had condemned to execution. Though past photographs may have been remembered or kept, this deliberate and systematic alteration to all of history in the public mind is seen as one of the central themes of Stalinism and totalitarianism.{{cn|date=November 2024}}
British photographer and visual artist Graham Ovenden's photos and paintings were ordered to be destroyed by a London's magistrate court in 2015 for being "indecent"<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lusher |first=Adam |date=13 October 2015 |title=Paedophile artist's photographs and paintings 'must be destroyed' |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/news/paedophile-artist-s-photographs-and-paintings-must-be-destroyed-judge-rules-a6692921.html |access-date=7 February 2021 |website=The Independent}}</ref> and their copies had been removed from the online Tate Gallery.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-10-16 |title=Graham Ovenden {{!}} Tate |url=http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/graham-ovenden-1730 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016182827/http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/graham-ovenden-1730 |archive-date=October 16, 2015 |access-date=2015-10-16}}</ref>
In 2006, a ''National Geographic'' cover was censored by the Nashravaran Journalistic Institute of Iran. The offending cover, a picture of an embracing couple, was hidden beneath a white sticker.<ref>{{cite web |last=Lundqvist |first=J. |title=More pictures of Iranian Censorship |url=http://viewsdesk.com/2006/more-pictures-of-iranian-censorship/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110429200541/http://viewsdesk.com/2006/more-pictures-of-iranian-censorship/ |archive-date=2011-04-29 |access-date=2007-08-01}}</ref>
=== Pornography === "Obscenity" in Canada, as defined in the landmark criminal case of ''R v Butler''), is censored, which is generally limited to pornography and child pornography depicting sexual violence, degradation, or dehumanization, in particular that which causes harm (as in ''R v Labaye'').<ref>{{cite web |title=Our authority & governance |url=https://www.consumerprotectionbc.ca/about-us/our-authority-governance/#Our%20administrative%C2%A0agreements%20&%20contracts |access-date=29 August 2021 |website=consumerprotectionbc.ca}}</ref>
===Internet=== {{Main|Internet censorship|Internet filter}}
Internet censorship is the control or suppression of the publishing or accessing of information on the Internet. It may be carried out by governments or by private organizations either at the behest of the government or on their own initiative. Individuals and organizations may engage in self-censorship on their own or due to intimidation and fear.
The issues associated with Internet censorship are similar to those for offline censorship of more traditional media. One difference is that national borders are more permeable online: residents of a country that bans certain information can find it on websites hosted outside the country. Thus, censors must work to prevent access to information even though they lack physical or legal control over the websites themselves. This in turn requires the use of technical censorship methods that are unique to the Internet, such as site blocking and content filtering.<ref name="UNESCO-2011">[http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/resources/publications-and-communication-materials/publications/full-list/freedom-of-connection-freedom-of-expression-the-changing-legal-and-regulatory-ecology-shaping-the-internet/ ''Freedom of Connection, Freedom of Expression: The Changing Legal and Regulatory Ecology Shaping the Internet''], Dutton, William H.; Dopatka, Anna; Law, Ginette; Nash, Victoria, ''Division for Freedom of Expression, Democracy and Peace'', United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Paris, 2011, 103 pp., {{ISBN|978-9231041884}}</ref>[[File:Internet Censorship and Surveillance World Map.svg|upright=2.0|thumb|'''Internet censorship and surveillance by country (2018)'''<ref name="FOTN-2018">{{cite web |title=Freedom on the Net 2018 |url=https://freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/FOTN_2018_Final%20Booklet_11_1_2018.pdf |website=Freedom House |date=November 2018 |access-date=1 November 2018 |archive-date=1 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181101192951/https://freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/FOTN_2018_Final%20Booklet_11_1_2018.pdf }}</ref><ref>OpenNet Initiative [http://opennet.net/research/data "Summarized global Internet filtering data spreadsheet"], 8 November 2011 and [http://opennet.net/research/profiles "Country Profiles"], the OpenNet Initiative is a collaborative partnership of the Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto; the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University; and the SecDev Group, Ottawa</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20140312120731/http://12mars.rsf.org/2014-en/#slide2 "Internet Enemies"], ''Enemies of the Internet 2014: Entities at the heart of censorship and surveillance'', Reporters Without Borders (Paris), 11 March 2014. Retrieved 24 June 2014.</ref><ref>[http://march12.rsf.org/i/Report_EnemiesoftheInternet_2012.pdf ''Internet Enemies''], Reporters Without Borders (Paris), 12 March 2012 {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120323215225/http://march12.rsf.org/i/Report_EnemiesoftheInternet_2012.pdf |date=March 23, 2012 }}</ref><ref>Due to legal concerns the OpenNet Initiative does not check for filtering of child pornography and because their classifications focus on technical filtering, they do not include other types of censorship.</ref> {{div col|colwidth=15em}} {{legend|#F9D|Pervasive}} {{legend|#FDD|Substantial}} {{legend|#FFD|Selective}} {{legend|#98FB98|Little or none}} {{legend|#e0e0e0|Not classified / No data}} {{div col end}} |500x500px]]
Furthermore, the Domain Name System (DNS) a critical component of the Internet is dominated by centralized and few entities. The most widely used DNS root is administered by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/governance/bylaws-en|title=Bylaws for Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers {{!}} A California Nonprofit Public-Benefit Corporation|website=www.icann.org|access-date=2020-04-28}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.icann.org/resources/unthemed-pages/icann-mou-1998-11-25-en|title=ICANN|website=www.icann.org|access-date=2020-04-28}}</ref> As an administrator they have rights to shut down and seize domain names when they deem necessary to do so and at most times the direction is from governments. This has been the case with Wikileaks shutdowns<ref>{{Cite news|last=Wakefield|first=Jane|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-11928899|title=Wikileaks' struggle to stay online|date=2010-12-07|work=BBC News|access-date=2020-04-28|language=en-GB}}</ref> and name seizure events such as the ones executed by the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center (IPR Center) managed by the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ice.gov/factsheets/ipr-in-our-sites|title=Operation In Our Sites|website=www.ice.gov|date=22 May 2014 |language=en|access-date=2020-04-28}}</ref> This makes it easy for internet censorship by authorities as they have control over what should or should not be on the Internet. Some activists and researchers{{Who|date=June 2025}} have started opting for alternative DNS roots, though the Internet Architecture Board{{ref RFC|2826}} (IAB) does not support these DNS root providers.
Due to the underlying distributed technology of the Internet, total censorship of information online is very difficult or impossible to achieve, unless the censor has total control over all Internet-connected computers, such as in North Korea or Cuba. Pseudonymity and data havens (such as Freenet) protect free speech using technologies that guarantee material cannot be removed and prevents the identification of authors. Technologically savvy users can often find ways to access blocked content. Nevertheless, blocking remains an effective means of limiting access to sensitive information for most users when censors, such as those in China, are able to devote significant resources to building and maintaining a comprehensive censorship system.<ref name="UNESCO-2011" />
China employs sophisticated censorship mechanisms, referred to as the Golden Shield Project, to monitor the Internet. Popular search engines such as Baidu also remove politically sensitive search results.<ref>{{cite web |date=May 2009 |title=Baidu's Internal Monitoring and Censorship Document Leaked (1) |url=http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2009/04/baidus-internal-monitoring-and-censorship-document-leaked/ |website=China Digital Times (CDT)}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=30 April 2009 |title=Baidu's Internal Monitoring and Censorship Document Leaked (2) |url=http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2009/04/baidus-internal-monitoring-and-censorship-document-leaked-2/ |website=China Digital Times (CDT)}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=29 April 2009 |title=Baidu's Internal Monitoring and Censorship Document Leaked (3) |url=http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2009/04/baidus-internal-monitoring-and-censorship-document-leaked-3/ |website=China Digital Times (CDT)}}</ref>
In Cuba, connection to the Internet is restricted and censored.<ref>{{cite web |year=2006 |title=Going online in Cuba: Internet under surveillance |url=http://www.rsf.org/IMG/pdf/rapport_gb_md_1.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090303221407/http://www.rsf.org/IMG/pdf/rapport_gb_md_1.pdf |archive-date=2009-03-03 |publisher=Reporters Without Borders}}</ref>
Views about the feasibility and effectiveness of Internet censorship have evolved in parallel with the development of the Internet and censorship technologies: * A 1993 ''Time'' magazine article quotes computer scientist John Gillmore, one of the founders of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, as saying "The Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it."<ref>[http://www.chemie.fu-berlin.de/outerspace/internet-article.html "First Nation in Cyberspace"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170113134312/http://www.chemie.fu-berlin.de/outerspace/internet-article.html |date=2017-01-13 }}, Philip Elmer-Dewitt, ''Time'', 6 December 1993, No. 49</ref> * In November 2007, "Father of the Internet" Vint Cerf stated that he sees government control of the Internet failing because the Web is almost entirely privately owned.<ref>[https://www.reuters.com/article/reutersEdge/idUSN1420689320071114?sp=true "Cerf sees government control of Internet failing"], Pedro Fonseca, Reuters, 14 November 2007</ref> * A report of research conducted in 2007 and published in 2009 by the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University stated that: "We are confident that the [censorship circumvention] tool developers will for the most part keep ahead of the governments' blocking efforts", but also that "...we believe that less than two percent of all filtered Internet users use circumvention tools".<ref>[http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/sites/cyber.law.harvard.edu/files/2007_Circumvention_Landscape.pdf ''2007 Circumvention Landscape Report: Methods, Uses, and Tools''], Hal Roberts, Ethan Zuckerman, and John Palfrey, Beckman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, March 2009</ref> * In contrast, a 2011 report by researchers at the Oxford Internet Institute published by UNESCO concludes "... the control of information on the Internet and Web is certainly feasible, and technological advances do not therefore guarantee greater freedom of speech."<ref name="UNESCO-2011" />
A BBC World Service poll of 27,973 adults in 26 countries, including 14,306 Internet users,<ref>For the BBC poll Internet users are those who used the Internet within the previous six months.</ref> was conducted between 30 November 2009 and 7 February 2010. The head of the polling organization felt, overall, that the poll showed that: :Despite worries about privacy and fraud, people around the world see access to the internet as their fundamental right. They think the web is a force for good, and most don't want governments to regulate it.<ref>[https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/08_03_10_BBC_internet_poll.pdf "BBC Internet Poll: Detailed Findings"], BBC World Service, 8 March 2010</ref>
The poll found that nearly four in five (78%) Internet users felt that the Internet had brought them greater freedom, that most Internet users (53%) felt that "the internet should never be regulated by any level of government anywhere", and almost four in five Internet users and non-users around the world felt that access to the Internet was a fundamental right (50% strongly agreed, 29% somewhat agreed, 9% somewhat disagreed, 6% strongly disagreed, and 6% gave no opinion).<ref>[https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8548190.stm "Internet access is 'a fundamental right{{'"}}], BBC News, 8 March 2010</ref>
====Social media==== The rising use of social media in many nations{{Which|date=June 2025}} has led to the emergence of citizens organizing protests through social media, sometimes called "Twitter Revolutions". The most notable of these social media-led protests were the Arab Spring uprisings, starting in 2010. In response to the use of social media in these protests, the Tunisian government began a hack of Tunisian citizens' Facebook accounts, and reports arose of accounts being deleted.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/01/the-inside-story-of-how-facebook-responded-to-tunisian-hacks/70044/|title=The Inside Story of How Facebook Responded to Tunisian Hacks|last=Madrigal|first=Alexis C.|website=The Atlantic|date=24 January 2011|language=en-US|access-date=2016-04-15}}</ref>
Automated systems can be used to censor social media posts, and therefore limit what citizens can say online. This most notably occurs in China, where social media posts are automatically censored depending on content. In 2013, Harvard political science professor Gary King led a study to determine what caused social media posts to be censored and found that posts mentioning the government were not more or less likely to be deleted if they were supportive or critical of the government. Posts mentioning collective action were more likely to be deleted than those that had not mentioned collective action.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=King|first1=Gary|last2=Pan|first2=Jennifer|s2cid=5398090|date=2014|title=Reverse-engineering censorship in China: Randomized experimentation and participant observation|journal=Science|doi=10.1126/science.1251722|pmid=25146296|volume=345|issue=6199|article-number=1251722|url=http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:37091695|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Currently, social media censorship appears primarily as a way to restrict Internet users' ability to organize protests. For the Chinese government, seeing citizens unhappy with local governance is beneficial as state and national leaders can replace unpopular officials. King and his researchers were able to predict when certain officials would be removed based on the number of unfavorable social media posts.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://vimeo.com/151768150|title=Professor Gary King, Inaugural Government Regius Lecture 2015|website=Vimeo|access-date=2016-04-12|date=2016-01-14}}</ref>
Research has proved that criticism is tolerable on social media sites, therefore it is not censored unless it has a higher chance of collective action. It is not important whether the criticism is supportive or unsupportive of the states' leaders, the main priority of censoring certain social media posts is to make sure that no big actions are being made due to something that was said on the internet. Posts that challenge the Party's political leading role in the Chinese government are more likely to be censored due to the challenges it poses to the Chinese Communist Party.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Shao |first1=Li |title=The Dilemma of Criticism: Disentangling the Determinants of Media Censorship in China |journal=Journal of East Asian Studies |date=1 November 2018 |volume=18 |issue=3 |pages=279–297 |doi=10.1017/jea.2018.19|s2cid=158396167 }}</ref>
On the platform TikTok, certain hashtags have been categorized by the platform's code and determines how viewers can or cannot interact with the content or hashtag specifically. Some shadowbanned tags include: #acab, #GayArab, #gej due to their referencing of certain social movements and LGBTQ identity. As TikTok guidelines are becoming more localized around the world, some experts believe{{Who|date=June 2025}} that this could result in more censorship than before.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ryan |first1=Fergus |last2=Fritz |first2=Audrey |last3=Impiombato |first3=Daria |author-link3=Daria Impiombato |date=2020 |title=TikTok censorship |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep26120.5 |journal=Tiktok and Wechat |pages=04–24}}</ref>
=== Weather reports === In the Stalinist Eastern Bloc, the weather forecasts were changed if they suggested that the sun might not shine on May Day.<ref name="crampton247" /> Under Nicolae Ceauşescu in Romania, weather reports were doctored so that the temperatures were not seen to rise above or fall below the levels which dictated that work must stop.<ref name="crampton247" />
===Video games=== {{Main|Video game censorship|List of regionally censored video games}}
Since the early 1980s, advocates of video games have emphasized their use as an expressive medium, arguing for their protection under the laws governing freedom of speech and also as an educational tool. Detractors argue that video games are harmful and therefore should be subject to legislative oversight and restrictions. Many video games have certain elements removed or edited due to regional rating standards.<ref>Byrd P. [http://www.houstonlawreview.org/archive/downloads/44-2_pdf/5_Byrd.pdf "It's all fun and games until somebody gets hurt: the effectiveness of proposed video game regulation."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924031423/http://www.houstonlawreview.org/archive/downloads/44-2_pdf/5_Byrd.pdf |date=2015-09-24 }} Houston Law Review 2007. Accessed 19 March 2007.</ref><ref>[http://chronicle.com/blogs/conversation/2013/10/16/a-hornets-nest-over-violent-video-games/ "A Hornet's Nest Over Violent Video Games"], James D. Ivory and Malte Elson, ''The Chronicle of Higher Education'' (Washington), 16 October 2013.</ref> For example, in the Japanese and PAL Versions of ''No More Heroes'', blood splatter and gore is removed from the gameplay. Decapitation scenes are implied, but not shown. Scenes of missing body parts after having been cut off, are replaced with the same scene, but showing the body parts fully intact.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGlGgSjD2Zs|title=No More Heroes – Censored gameplay 12-07-07|last=gamesradararchive|date=19 October 2012|website=YouTube}}</ref>
==Impact of surveillance== {{See also|Surveillance|Mass surveillance|Computer and network surveillance}}
Surveillance and censorship are different. Surveillance can be performed without censorship, but it is harder to engage in censorship without some form of surveillance.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2012/mar/02/censorship-inseperable-from-surveillance "Censorship is inseparable from surveillance"], Cory Doctorow, ''The Guardian'', 2 March 2012</ref> Even when surveillance does not lead directly to censorship, the widespread knowledge or belief that a person, their computer, or their use of the Internet is under surveillance can have a "chilling effect" and lead to self-censorship.<ref>[https://www.wefightcensorship.org/cybercensorship-worldwidehtml.html "Online Censorship : Ubiquitous Big Brother, witchhunt for dissidents"]{{dead link|date=March 2015}}, WeFightCensorship.org, Reporters Without Borders, retrieved 12 March 2013</ref>
==Implementation== The former Soviet Union maintained a particularly extensive program of state-imposed censorship. The main organ for official censorship in the Soviet Union was the ''Chief Agency for Protection of Military and State Secrets'' generally known as the ''Glavlit'', its Russian acronym.<ref>{{cite news |title=Glavlit (Russian censorship office)|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Glavlit |access-date=September 4, 2025 |work=Britannica}}</ref> The ''Glavlit'' handled censorship matters arising from domestic writings of just about any kind{{snd}}even beer and vodka labels. ''Glavlit'' censorship personnel were present in every large Soviet publishing house or newspaper; the agency employed 70,000 censors to review information before it was disseminated by publishing houses, editorial offices, and broadcasting studios. No mass medium escaped ''Glavlit''{{'}}s control. All press agencies and radio and television stations had ''Glavlit'' representatives on their editorial staffs.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Koltsova|first=Olessia|date=2006-09-27|title=News Media and Power in Russia|doi=10.4324/9780203536971|isbn=978-0-203-53697-1}}</ref>
Sometimes, public knowledge of the existence of a specific document is subtly suppressed, a situation resembling censorship. The authorities taking such action will justify it by declaring the work to be "subversive" or "inconvenient". An example is Michel Foucault's 1978 text ''Sexual Morality and the Law'' (later republished as ''The Danger of Child Sexuality''), originally published as ''La loi de la pudeur'' [literally, "the law of decency"]. This work defends the decriminalization of statutory rape and the abolition of age-of-consent laws.{{citation needed|date=March 2013}}
When a publisher comes under pressure to suppress a book, but has already entered into a contract with the author, they will sometimes effectively censor the book by deliberately ordering a small print run and making minimal, if any, attempts to publicize it. This practice became known in the early 2000s as ''privishing'' ('''priv'''ate publ'''ishing''').<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0711-05.htm |title=Journalists Thrown 'Into the Buzzsaw' |last=Winkler |first=David |date=11 July 2002 |publisher=CommonDreams.org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070804080018/http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0711-05.htm |archive-date=August 4, 2007 }}</ref> an OpenNet Initiative (ONI) classifications:<ref name=ONICountryProfiles>OpenNet Initiative [http://opennet.net/research/data "Summarized global Internet filtering data spreadsheet"], 29 October 2012 and [http://opennet.net/research/profiles "Country Profiles"], the OpenNet Initiative is a collaborative partnership of the Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto; the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University; and the SecDev Group, Ottawa</ref>
Cuban media used to be operated under the supervision of the Communist Party's ''Department of Revolutionary Orientation'', which "develops and coordinates propaganda strategies".<ref>{{cite web |title=10 most censored countries |url=http://www.cpj.org/censored/censored_06.html |publisher=The Committee to Protect Journalists}}</ref>
== Concessions to avoid censorship == {{Expand section|date=February 2026}} In the U.S., the Parental Advisory warning is displayed on record label-published music releases considered unsuitable for children. This system was decided by the Recording Industry Association of America in 1985, as a concession to deter any Congressional law censoring songs with violent, sexual, or anti-Christian lyrics. Such a law had been advocated for by activists striving for "family values" in American culture, but was considered by many musicians to be unconstitutional under the First Amendment—like Frank Zappa and John Denver, who testified to that effect to Congress.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ring |first=Julian |date=2025-09-12 |title=Tipper Gore, Twisted Sister and the fight to put warning labels on music |url=https://www.npr.org/2025/09/12/nx-s1-5460888/music-parental-advisory-sticker-tipper-gore |access-date=2026-02-13 |work=NPR |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-11-01 |title=The music industry agreed to slap a 'parental advisory' label on albums on this day in 1985 |url=https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/music-industryparental-advisory-label-on-this-day-1985-120012633.html |access-date=2026-02-13 |website=Yahoo Entertainment |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Paulson |first=Ken |title=Prince gave us the 'parental advisory' label: Column |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2016/04/25/prince-purple-rain-darling-nikki-censorship-lyrics-tipper-gore-column/83466774/ |access-date=2026-02-13 |website=USA TODAY |language=en-US}}</ref> A similar concession was made by the U.S. video game industry in the 1990s, resulting from similar moral criticism; they created the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), which determines content age warnings for game packages in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.<ref name=":44">{{Cite web |date=September 19, 2019 |title=How the ESRB Ratings System Changed Video Games Forever |url=https://associationsnow.com/2019/09/four-ways-ratings-changed-videogames-forever/ |access-date=2025-06-01 |website=associationsnow.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Hall |first=Charlie |date=2018-03-03 |title=A brief history of the ESRB rating system |url=https://www.polygon.com/2018/3/3/17068788/esrb-ratings-changes-history-loot-boxes |access-date=2025-06-01 |website=Polygon |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":45">{{Cite news |last=Morris |first=Chris |date=2024-06-18 |title=30 years ago, Congress forced the video game industry to grow up |url=https://www.fastcompany.com/91128966/congress-forced-the-video-game-industry-to-grow-up-1994 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240827154650/https://www.fastcompany.com/91128966/congress-forced-the-video-game-industry-to-grow-up-1994 |archive-date=2024-08-27 |access-date=2025-06-01 |work=Fast Company |language=en-US}}</ref>
{{Multiple image | image1 = Parental Advisory label.svg | image2 = ESRB 2013 Adults Only 18+.svg | image3 = MPA R RATING.svg | align = center | total_width = 800 | image_gap = 20 | header = Adult content warnings for mass media in the United States | caption1 = The Parental Advisory warning for music | caption2 = An ESRB warning for video games | caption3 = The MPAA warning for films minors can see in theaters if accompanied by an adult | caption_align = left | image4 = MPA NC-17 RATING.svg | caption4 = The MPAA warning for films minors cannot see in theaters | image5 = TV-MA icon.svg | caption5 = A TV Parental Guidelines warning at the start of a cable TV program | direction = horizontal }}
==By country== {{Main|Censorship by country}}
Censorship for individual countries is measured by Freedom House (FH) ''Freedom of the Press'' report,<ref>[http://www.freedomhouse.org/report-types/freedom-press "2012 Freedom of the Press Data"], Freedom House, 1 May 2012</ref> Reporters Without Borders (RWB) ''Press freedom index''<ref>[http://en.rsf.org/press-freedom-index-2013,1054.html "Press Freedom Index 2013"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130215183842/http://en.rsf.org/press-freedom-index-2013%2C1054.html |date=2013-02-15 }}, Reporters Without Borders, 30 January 2013</ref> and V-Dem government censorship effort index. Censorship aspects are measured by Freedom on the Net<ref name=FOTN-2018>{{cite web |title=Freedom on the Net 2018 |url=https://freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/FOTN_2018_Final%20Booklet_11_1_2018.pdf |website=Freedom House |date=November 2018 |access-date=1 November 2018 |archive-date=1 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181101192951/https://freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/FOTN_2018_Final%20Booklet_11_1_2018.pdf }}</ref> and OpenNet Initiative (ONI) classifications.<ref name=ONICountryProfiles/>
== Notes == {{Notelist}}
==See also== {{portal|Freedom of speech|Journalism}} {{Information science}}<!-- PLEASE RESPECT ALPHABETICAL ORDER --> * {{Annotated link|Book censorship}} * {{annotated link|Censor bars}} * Censorship by proxy * {{annotated link|Censorship of LGBTQ issues}} * {{annotated link|Collateral censorship}} * {{annotated link|Deplatforming}} * {{annotated link|Eastern Bloc media and propaganda}} * {{annotated link|Hays Code}} * {{annotated link|Internet freedom}} * {{annotated link|Mass media regulation}} * {{annotated link|Nineteen Eighty-Four|''Nineteen Eighty-Four''}} * {{annotated link|Orwellian}} * {{annotated link|Parental controls}} * {{annotated link|Pirate Party}} * {{annotated link|Redaction}} * {{annotated link|Strategic lawsuit against public participation}} * {{annotated link|Streisand effect}} * {{annotated link|Taboo}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
===Works cited=== * {{Citation|last=Crampton|first=R.J.|title = Eastern Europe in the Twentieth Century and After|publisher=Routledge|year=1997|isbn=978-0-415-16422-1}} * {{Citation|last1=Major|first1=Patrick|last2=Mitter|first2=Rana|chapter=East is East and West is West?|title=Across the Blocs: Exploring Comparative Cold War Cultural and Social History|editor-last=Major|editor-first=Patrick|publisher=Taylor & Francis, Inc.|year=2004|isbn=978-0-7146-8464-2}}
==Further reading== {{Wikiquote}} {{Library resources box |by=no |onlinebooks=no |others=yes lcheading=Censorship}} * Abbott, Randy. "[https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED308864.pdf A Critical Analysis of the Library-Related Literature Concerning Censorship in Public Libraries and Public School Libraries in the United States During the 1980s]." Project for degree of Education Specialist, University of South Florida, December 1987. * Biltereyst, Daniel, ed. [https://books.google.com/books?id=xe4pAAAAQBAJ ''Silencing Cinema'']. Palgrave/Macmillan, 2013.* Birmingham, Kevin, ''The Most Dangerous Book: The Battle for James Joyce's Ulysses'', London (Head of Zeus Ltd), 2014, {{ISBN|978-1594203367}} * Burress, Lee. ''[https://archive.org/details/battleofbookslit0000burr Battle of the Books]''. Metuchen, NJ: The Scarecrow Press, 1989. * Butler, Judith, "Excitable Speech: A Politics of the Performative"(1997). * Darnton, Robert, {{Cite book |title=Censors at Work: How States Shaped Literature |year=2014 |publisher=W. W. Norton |location=New York |isbn=978-0-393-24229-4 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/censorsatworkhow0000darn }} * Demm, Eberhard. ''Censorship and Propaganda in World War I: A Comprehensive History'' (Bloomsbury Academic, 2019) [http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=56607 online review] * Foucault, Michel, edited by Lawrence D. Kritzman. ''Philosophy, Culture: Interviews and Other Writings 1977–1984'' (New York/London: 1988, Routledge, {{ISBN|0415900824}}) (The text ''Sexual Morality and the Law'' is Chapter 16 of the book). * Gilbert, Nora. [https://books.google.com/books?id=TuZe1EIcQ5AC ''Better Left Unsaid: Victorian Novels, Hays Code Films, and the Benefits of Censorship'']. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2013. * Hoffman, Frank. [https://archive.org/details/intellectualfree00hoff ''Intellectual Freedom and Censorship'']. Metuchen, NJ: The Scarecrow Press, 1989. * Mathiesen, Kay ''[http://ssrn.com/abstract=1264451 Censorship and Access to Information] Handbook of Information and Computer Ethics'', Kenneth E. Himma, Herman T. Tavani, eds., John Wiley and Sons, New York, 2008 * National Coalition against Censorship (NCAC). "Books on Trial: A Survey of Recent Cases." January 1985. * Parker, Alison M. (1997). [https://books.google.com/books?id=p4LihwMas0cC ''Purifying America: Women, Cultural Reform, and Pro-Censorship Activism, 1873–1933''], University of Illinois Press. * Ringmar, Erik [https://archive.org/download/ABloggersManifestoFreeSpeechAndCensorshipInTheAgeOfTheInternet/ErikRingmarABloggersManifesto.pdf ''A Blogger's Manifesto: Free Speech and Censorship in the Age of the Internet''] (London: Anthem Press, 2007) * Terry, John David II. "Censorship: Post Pico." In ''School Law Update, 1986'', edited by Thomas N. Jones and Darel P. Semler. * {{cite encyclopedia |last= Sandefur|first= Timothy |editor-first=Ronald |editor-last=Hamowy |editor-link=Ronald Hamowy |encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Libertarianism |chapter= Censorship |chapter-url= https://sk.sagepub.com/reference/libertarianism/n37.xml|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=yxNgXs3TkJYC |year=2008 |publisher= Sage; Cato Institute |location= Thousand Oaks, CA <!-- |doi= 10.4135/9781412965811.n37 -->|isbn= 978-1-4129-6580-4 <!-- |oclc=750831024| lccn = 2008009151 --> |pages=56–57 }} * Silber, Radomír. ''Partisan Media and Modern Censorship: Media Influence On Czech Political Partisanship and the Media's Creation of Limits to Public Opposition and Control of Exercising Power in the Czech Republic in the 1990s''. First edition. Brno: Tribun EU, 2017. 86 stran. Librix.eu. {{ISBN|978-8026311744}}. * Silber, Radomír. (2018) On Modern Censorship in Public Service Broadcasting. ''Cultural and Religious Studies, Volume 3'', 2018, {{ISSN|2328-2177}}. * Wittern-Keller, Laura. [https://books.google.com/books?id=dvzHIRpfY1UC ''Freedom of the Screen: Legal Challenges to State Film Censorship, 1915–1981'']. University Press of Kentucky 2008 * Gosztonyi, Gergely. (2023) [https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-46529-1 ''Censorship from Plato to Social Media''] Springer, Cham. {{ISBN|978-3-031-46528-4}}
{{Media manipulation}} {{Propaganda}} {{Internet censorship by country}} {{Censorship and websites}} {{Conformity}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Censorship Category:Anti-intellectualism Category:Historical negationism Category:Propaganda techniques