Censorship comes in many forms.

At one end of censorship’s sliding scale there are localized issues. Books of varying degrees of controversy are banned in school districts in the USA, mainly in the Southern states, greatly owing to pressure from parents.  

At the other end of the scale, there are autocratic governments & authoritarian regimes forming their own closed intranet of misinformation, which is in turn force-fed to their people. They control the books you read, the news you see, and if it’s raining, they’ll make you think it’s Las Vegas in mid-July. 

They do this for no other reason than to stay in power. After all, why do right by your people if you can just make them think you’re doing right by them?

These governments & autocrats will make the excuse that it’s for the good of their people, but the data disagrees.

Any form of internet censorship directly damages economies. In 2021, censorship cost the global economy $5.5billion. After Myanmar’s military coup in February 2021, the subsequent internet & social media shutdowns blew a gaping $2.8billion hole in the country’s GDP.

Nigeria, not to be outdone, banned Twitter in June 2021 and wiped an estimated $1.5billion from their own economy in the process.

(Figures from TOP10VPN)

Censorship of books & information harm the innocent subjects of this content restriction, not just intellectually but financially too.

That’s why the End Banned Books project is both salient and relevant to the Zeitgeist of today. Banning books was the original form of censorship, so we named this project as symboli for ending censorship worldwide.

If information is the great equalizer, censorship is its antithesis as a divider. 

Sign the pledge or donate today to help us end it.

Thank you.

The End Banned Books Team