On Tuesday, Chamber of Progress released a new report exposing the close ties between lawmakers and organizations championing digital censorship laws and those backing school book bans and curriculum censorship. The research examines bills passed this year in Utah, Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana, and finds the legislation is regularly backed by anti-LGBTQ legislators and groups, frequently using coded language to target LGBTQ communities.

READ FULL REPORT:
The Rising Red Tide of Digital Censorship:
How a Conservative Wave of Content Bans is Moving From Schools to Online

“What we’re seeing is a censorship curtain being drawn across red states, both in school libraries and online,” said Chamber of Progress CEO Adam Kovacevich. “The cumulative effect is often to cut off teens in need from access to information and communities, especially resources on gender identity and race. For many of the groups backing these bills, that’s no accident.”

Key report findings include:

• The same lawmakers backing book bans are backing digital censorship legislation. In some cases, the lead sponsors of digital censorship legislation also introduced curriculum censorship legislation.
• In state after state, support from anti-LGBTQ groups advocating for curriculum censorship forms a backbone of support for digital censorship laws.
• Language targeting the LGBTQ community is regularly used by lawmakers and groups to support both digital censorship and curriculum censorship legislation.
• The same states leading book bans are the ones passing digital censorship laws.
• The compounded effect of digital censorship laws and curriculum censorship cuts off access to information and communities for marginalized teens.

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Chamber of Progress (progresschamber.org) is a center-left tech industry policy coalition promoting technology’s progressive future.  We work to ensure that all Americans benefit from technological leaps, and that the tech industry operates responsibly and fairly.  

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