We asked artists in China about censorship. Here’s what they told us.
We interviewed artists in China about censorship and self-censorship in artistic practice. Their reflections describe a system shaped less by explicit prohibition and more by uncertainty, where creators often anticipate consequences and quietly adjust expression in advance.
The Americans: Bad Bunny, “Too Political,” and the Violence the Super Bowl Can’t Hide
The backlash against Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl performance is not really about politics—it’s about who is allowed to exist publicly without being punished for it. Labeling marginalized people as “too political” has become a tool of erasure, one that mirrors deeper structures of state violence, censorship, and control. From ICE raids to reproductive coercion, the Super Bowl is not a refuge from politics, but a stage where power decides whose lives are visible, and whose suffering is ignored.
Reproductive Rights, UPR, and Human Rights Accountability in the U.S.
As the United States withdrew from the Universal Periodic Review and altered how reproductive rights are reported in official human rights documents, civil society actors developed alternative forms of documentation to ensure evidence of harm, lived experience, and legal analysis remained part of the public record.
The Hidden Labor of Hong Kong: Care Work Amidst Tragedy and Repression
A personal account of the Wang Fuk Court fire in Hong Kong, tracing how preventable disaster, information control, and political pressure shape what can be seen, said, and remembered. The essay centers the often-invisible care work of migrant women and communities who sustain life amid silence and neglect.
How We Bear Witness to the Siege of Minneapolis
An essay on how algorithms, disinformation, and generative AI distort reality in moments of violence. When truth is overwritten by hyperreality, victims are forced to exist in both the real and the fabricated at once.
Vodun Days 2026: Reclaiming Cultural Sovereignty in Benin and West Africa Against Erasure
In a region where Indigenous spiritual systems were long silenced, Vodun Days 2026 reclaim public space as a site of cultural resistance. By affirming Vodun as living knowledge rather than folklore, the festival challenges historical and contemporary forms of erasure shaping how West African cultures are seen, valued, or ignored.
Shadowbanned: Art, Language, and Survival Under Digital Censorship
When platforms label marginalized voices as “dangerous,” censorship becomes violence. In this essay, Vianney Harelly writes about art, borders, Palestine solidarity, and the real cost of being visible under digital censorship.
They Don’t Want Us to Know the Truth: Digital Censorship in Latino Communities
Latino communities turn to the internet for clarity on immigration, reproductive rights, and civic life, only to find their voices buried. As platforms suppress Spanish-language education and amplify misinformation, access to truth is quietly reshaped.
Victims of Algorithmic Hyperreality: One Real Death, Infinite Fabrications
An essay on how algorithms, disinformation, and generative AI distort reality in moments of violence. When truth is overwritten by hyperreality, victims are forced to exist in both the real and the fabricated at once.
Gendered Censorship in the Age of AI: Artist Violet on Platforms, Visibility, and Feminine Labor
Artist Violet shares a firsthand account of gendered censorship, algorithmic visibility, and AI driven extraction, examining how platforms shape creative labor and safety online.
Meta’s Vendetta Against Queer Culture & Sex: Double Standards in Platform Policy (and it’s not just Meta)
Big Tech platforms claim to allow queer, sexual, and reproductive health content, yet their automated systems routinely erase it. Across Meta, YouTube, TikTok, and beyond, accounts are deleted, content is demonetised, and pleasure-affirming information is mislabelled as “adult,” while misogynistic and male-centred sexual content continues to thrive.
Self-Censorship as Survival: Faith, SRHR, and Digital Backlash
Self-censorship does not emerge from silence alone. It is produced through moral regulation, digital backlash, and the constant calculation of risk. In faith-based SRHR contexts, speaking openly can trigger social punishment, platform suppression, and personal harm.
How the UK Online Safety Act is harming marginalized communities and setting a dangerous global precedent
As the UK’s Online Safety Act moves into enforcement, “safety” is increasingly achieved through removal rather than protection. Sex workers, queer communities, and sexual and reproductive health advocates are losing visibility, income, and access to essential information under compliance driven moderation.
When Environmental Disaster Is Silenced: How Algorithmic Power Erased Indonesia’s Flood Crisis
When an environmental disaster struck Indonesia, the world barely noticed. As floods swallowed entire communities and thousands were displaced, the crisis failed to register beyond local networks. This silence was not accidental. It was produced by an ecosystem where algorithms, media concentration, and political power quietly determine which lives are seen and which are rendered invisible.
Digital Anarchy, Cybernetics, and the Politics of Feedback
Digital systems are often framed as neutral tools, yet they are built from choices that shape whose voices are amplified and whose are erased. Drawing on cybernetics and anarchist thought, this piece examines how feedback, power, and governance operate within digital infrastructures and why reclaiming collective agency over these systems is essential for justice, accountability, and care.
Appealing into a void - can the DSA protect Europe's marginalised?
This research documents how reproductive health, sex worker-led, and queer organizations across Europe continue to face censorship despite the Digital Services Act. It shows how appeal and enforcement mechanisms remain inaccessible in practice, leaving lawful communities without effective protection.
Repro Uncensored × The Guardian: Our Investigation on Meta’s Global Censorship of Abortion Advice and Queer Content
This research, conducted by Repro Uncensored, exposes a global escalation in the censorship of abortion access, sexual health, and queer content across Meta platforms, revealing opaque enforcement practices, ineffective appeals mechanisms, and material harm.
COP30 and the Limits of Gender-Responsive Climate Action
At COP30 in Belém, governments approved the Belém Gender Action Plan — a long-awaited framework for gender-responsive climate action. While the agreement marks real progress, feminist advocates warn that key issues, including sexual and reproductive health and rights, were diluted or erased, leaving critical gaps between commitments on paper and lived realities.
Visibility Isn’t Access: How Platforms Erase Disabled Creators
Visibility on social media does not equal access. Platforms are built around speed, constant output, and algorithmic reward systems that are not designed for disabled people.
Censoring Erotics, Censoring Community Art under Platform Surveillance
Erotic artists sit at the frontlines of content policing. Through SPUNK ROCK’s story, this piece examines the patterns of moderation that disproportionately target queer and body-positive creators and the emotional and economic toll of sustaining an erotic practice under platform surveillance
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Researchers, activists, and organizations: join us in exploring the intersection of reproductive health, digital rights, artificial intelligence, and more. Together, we can tackle challenges like online censorship of abortion information, access to care in underserved communities, and advocacy for digital freedom.