Censorship is the suppression of information that is politically unacceptable. Though it has always been a controversial issue, censorship is especially detrimental for citizens. The terrible effects of it can still be seen today within some countries.
With the Russia-Ukraine war, Russia has increased its censorship over its citizens in attempts to keep knowledge from their citizens. In hopes of holding tranquility, the Kremlin, the Russian government, has referred to the war as a “special military operation on the territory of Ukraine.”
To enforce this, Russia passed legislation that prohibits “false information” on Feb. 25. This law is extremely vague in writing. However, anti-Kremlins believe it means any remarks against the government’s position on invasion could be considered an offense. Due to this, multiple independent Russian news outlets shut down immediately. The BBC also removed all of their operations within Russia.
This ban continued onto social media. Facebook is an app commonly used amongst the upper middle class of Russia. With fear that they may see the heavy Western opposition, the Kremlin has banned Facebook within Russia. Russia’s internet regulator claimed that Facebook limited pro-Kremlin accounts. However, Instagram, Twitter, Youtube and popular Russian social media such as VKontakte have remained accessible – but experts expect restrictions to be placed on these apps as well.
Especially when it comes to war reporting, it is important to keep the public informed of current events. Censorship of war can cause a false sense of reality with citizens. Librarian Carissa McDonald brought up the power dynamic struggle that communist governments may want. “Information is power. When governments are authoritarian type governments, power is so important to hold on to. Censorship is one way to maintain that power,” she said.
Russia is not the only country that is using censorship to promote their political agenda. China has put their citizens and the outside world under a facade of tranquility, using bloggers and other influencers across multiple platforms to relay its desired message. Many of these influencers have posed with trendy aesthetics, but they are all affiliated with CGTN, the Chinese-state run TV Network, as reporters.
Take Vica Li as an example. With over 1.4 million followers across all of her social media platforms, Li has the ability to spread her word far. She claims to be a normal influencer who wants to teach her viewers about Chinese culture so they can travel with ease. She does not affiliate herself with the Chinese government in any way. However, her Facebook page showed that at least nine people managed her page. She is also listed as a digital reporter on the CGTN.
In this way, propaganda in favor of the Chinese government is pushed to the outside world. Many of these bloggers do not acknowledge awful events of Chinese history such as the petrifying treatment of the Uyghur Muslims. Rather, they put a pro-China spin on the issue.
This can be extremely detrimental as it fails to educate the outside world on the facts of these horrors. McDonald agreed that everyone must know about this in order to progress as a society. “I understand that sometimes we all self-censor and we all participate in that on some level, but when it comes to information where lives are at stake, censorship is devastating,” she said.
Junior Aarya Joshi expressed how she forms her opinion on certain issues. “I personally form opinions from the media and big influences around me, and I know the large majority of people also do,” she said. “Censorship keeps us from hearing the full story and making fully sound opinions and stances about certain topics”. Most people form opinions based on the culture around them. For the victims of censorship, they do not have the information to do so.
Censorship is detrimental to society as a whole. Citizens need information in order to hold certain people accountable. The goal of censorship is to always prevent citizens from learning the truth of the dark sides of the government. It allows authorian governments to abuse power and let society feel the effects. As long as censorship remains, society will not be able to progress forward.
