• The Hub

    News, Notes, Talk

    Like everything else, all those book bans are probably Facebook’s fault.

    Jessie Gaynor

    September 9, 2022, 12:57pm

    If you’ve ever spent time in a Facebook parents’ group, you know that aside from the occasional good pediatrician recommendation, they are absolute nightmarish cesspools of sleep-training blowups and decidedly un-gentle Gentle Parenting evangelism. Apparently, though—as there always is with Facebook—there’s an even darker side to such groups (the conservative ones, anyway): they’ve become ground zero for book-banning campaigns.

    According to reporting in the MIT Technology Review, some of these groups

    post screenshots of “offensive” passages so that volunteers can rate them. In others, like Safe Library Books for Kids — Arkansas, parents trade tips about where to look for content they might object to, such as targeting coming-of-age novels or memoirs and searching for specific words.

    It’s absolutely beyond creepy—and therefore totally in keeping with Facebook’s general vibe—that adults are spending time avidly thumbing through children’s books to look for anything they might consider vaguely “pornographic” (or, you know, vaguely affirming of non-white or queer identities).

    These groups have already had success at keeping books out of the hands of children. In the Keller Independent School District in Tarrant County, Texas, lobbying from Facebook parent groups got 41 books pulled from the shelves.

    Facebook commented that it was deeply disturbed by such censorship, and planned to… Ahaha, no, obviously, Facebook did not respond to request for comment.

  • Become a Lit Hub Supporting Member: Because Books Matter

    For the past decade, Literary Hub has brought you the best of the book world for free—no paywall. But our future relies on you. In return for a donation, you’ll get an ad-free reading experience, exclusive editors’ picks, book giveaways, and our coveted Joan Didion Lit Hub tote bag. Most importantly, you’ll keep independent book coverage alive and thriving on the internet.

    x
    %d bloggers like this: