From ancient trials and imperial decrees to school board showdowns and modern firewalls, this episode maps how power tries to control ideas. We trace the recurring playbook of censorship—and what actually stops it.

Key takeaways

• Censorship evolves with technology but keeps the same aims: consolidate power, narrow debate, and make dissent illegible.
• “Protective” language (morals, children, national security) is the most common pretext.
• The antidote is persistent transparency: read the banned books, show up locally, fund independent journalism, and document removals and edits.

Sources

• Plato, Apology (Socrates’ trial). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy; Encyclopaedia Britannica.
• Qin Shi Huang and the “burning of books.” Encyclopaedia Britannica.
• Roman censor magistrates and Bacchanalia decree. Livy, Ab Urbe Condita; Encyclopaedia Britannica
• Index Librorum Prohibitorum (1559–1966). Encyclopaedia Britannica.
• William Tyndale’s English Bible and execution. Encyclopaedia Britannica.
• Stationers’ Company monopoly on printing (1557). Encyclopaedia Britannica.
• Galileo’s 1633 Inquisition trial. Encyclopaedia Britannica.
• Publick Occurrences (1690). Encyclopaedia Britannica.
• Alien and Sedition Acts (1798). U.S. National Archives.
• Comstock Act (1873). Encyclopaedia Britannica; Smithsonian.
• Nazi book burnings (1933). U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.
• East German censorship & samizdat. Encyclopaedia Britannica; Oxford projects.
• Howl obscenity trial (1957). University of Delaware Library; Library of Congress.
• Comics Code Authority (1954). Library of Congress; CBLDF.
• China’s “Great Firewall.” Freedom House, Freedom on the Net.
• Russia’s “fake news” laws. Human Rights Watch; Reuters/AP.
• North Korea’s intranet (Kwangmyong). North Korea Tech.
• American Library Association. “Record Book Challenges, 2023.”
• PEN America. Banned in the USA (2023–2024).
• CDC “forbidden words” reporting. Washington Post, STAT.
• Climate-change website removals. EDGI reports.
• Trump executive orders on DEI & gender definitions (2025). Reuters; White House.
• Smithsonian content review (2025). Financial Times, Guardian.
• State Department disinformation office closure (2025). Reuters; FT.
• Count Love Protest Dataset.
• CPJ, “Enemy of the People: Trump’s War on the Press.”
• TikTok moderation & protest posts. Rest of World; The Verge.
• Recent protests in France & Nepal. Reuters, Al Jazeera, Le Monde.

Throughout history, people have always been drawn to boogie men that don't exist. In this episode of The Long Arc, Brooke traces the history of moral panics through medieval blood libel, the witch trials, and the satanic panic. These stories bleed into new chapters, including Pizzagate and QAnon.