PEN America Report Finds Florida's Censorship Campaign May Be Losing Steam

A new report from PEN America entitled "Cracks in the Facade: Lessons Learned from Florida’s Ongoing Censorship Campaign" underscores the damage of Governor Ron DeSantis's book banning efforts while suggesting that those efforts are starting to lose steam. 

The report suggests that there is "substantial cause for optimism that the campaign of censorship is losing steam, with both legislative and court victories over pernicious laws," but insists that "only sustained resistance can permanently beat back the attack on free expression." As for the titular "cracks" in the state's censorship campaign, the report points to the 2024 Florida legislative sessions, noting that many major bills aimed at censorship "failed to pass or passed only after significant changes in the legislative session that just finished," while "others that passed are likely to face swift legal challenges."

“Between the administration’s flagship bills failing to pass the legislature, failing in the courts, failing to strike a cord with voters, and DeSantis’ failed presidential bid, there is mounting evidence that discriminatory and censorious policies are proving politically toxic," the report concludes. "What this means for DeSantis’s willingness to pursue his agenda of censorship-as-policy remains to be seen, but offers new opportunities for opponents of censorship to turn the tide.”