PEN America

The PEN Children’s and Young Adult Books Committee is responding to recent efforts to ban books and intimidate teachers and librarians with a new conversation series called “PEN Pals.” This series of articles gives voice to the challenged creators of books for children and young adults through an exchange of nuanced conversations that illuminate today’s issues.

PEN America is publishing a series of pieces about the harm online abuse poses to free speech – but also what Facebook, Twitter, and other social media companies can do to blunt its worst effects.

Months after the Leander Independent School District in Texas made headlines for banning a slate of books and graphic novels from its secondary school curriculum, the Austin-area district released its decisions on an additional set of titles. Thirteen books are to be removed from schools, with an additional six titles suspended until further notice.

Governments across the globe are arguing for new powers to regulate the internet within their countries’ borders for national security, economic health, and other fundamental reasons. Much of this new negotiation for control is occurring between governments and the technology corporations that host and arbitrate online public discourse. Still other aspects of this renegotiation involve who controls how the global internet functions at a basic level.

The international community must speak with a unified voice against Lukashenka’s attacks on civil society by condemning these disturbing raids, calling for the release of journalists and activists, and holding accountable the Belarusian politicians and security forces who are responsible for these abuses.

The new report outlines the legal mechanisms that the Turkish government has used to silence writers, activists, artists, academics, and creative professionals over the past five years.

PEN America – along with Consumer Reports, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Access Now, and others – launched the Dark Patterns Tip Line, a website where anyone can share examples of the websites that confuse and coerce us into making decisions or agreeing to terms that we wouldn’t otherwise.

“To protect the victims and ensure their voices are not silenced, social media companies must actively discourage abuse and hold abusive users accountable – but in ways that do not themselves infringe on freedom of expression.”