In January of 2025, the White House issued an order for the termination of government DEI programs, as well as local governments limit information available at schools. This order is still having effects months into 2026, and has caused censorship of information throughout the United States as a whole as exhibits and websites have been taken down.
According to the American Civil Liberties Union, censorship of resources in schools undermines students’ ability to learn. The censorship of information gently impacts students in classes, and sophomore Alayna Covarrubias talks about if it affects her in school.
“It does, especially when I’m trying to do research papers and stuff, there’s a lot of block sites and things that we do need to know, but we can’t,” Covarrubias said.
State governments limit online access in schools to make sure that only appropriate sites are being used, and information isn’t being misused in classes. However, the federal government uses censorship for other uses, including making orders labeled as to remove DEI related displays in museums.
“This isn’t about diversity, equity, and inclusion. That is mislabeling in order to incite Trump’s base,” instructor Rebekah Sidzyik said. “Rather, it is about erasing history that paints the United States in a bad light, especially the white majority.”
As stated by the American Alliance of Museums, most states have introduced anti-DEI bills and other restrictions on displays. Despite this, many museums push back against these bills and some still remain unaffected, like the University of Nebraska State Museum.
“Right now none of our exhibits have needed to come down or off display due to outside direction,” Public Relations and Membership Manager Caroline Clements said.
Censorship affects not just what is displayed in the museums but also what information is being shared everywhere. This can cause erasure of history and the learning of history in schools when textbooks are rewritten and books are banned.
“Ironically, when we try to erase that horrible history by taking exhibits about slavery down, for example, we are creating a new, horrible history,” Sidzyik said. “That is more than censorship. It is an Orwellian level of lies by omission, a literal whitewashing of history.”
As the American Civil Liberties Union said, rights aren’t just disappearing, they are being taken away and information is being withheld. Twelve lawsuits happened in 2025 after the Department of Defense schools started to censor books and changed curriculums related to race and gender, and the withholding of information is affecting many students in other schools too.
“It’s our right as humans to know what’s going on in our own government, and … information is being withheld from us, it’s just not right,” Covarrubias said.
According to the University of Maine, over four billion people worldwide use social media as a source of information, and this makes up almost sixty percent of the population. To some people, like Sidzyik, online media, as well as social media, can be both concerning and comforting.
“Censorship is always a concern. However, in a time when media conglomerates are owned more and more by a select few and social media is a main source of news for many, especially the young, I am less concerned about censorship and control,” Sidzyik said. “I am deeply concerned about the dissemination of misinformation, patently false, and blatantly false information.”
Many people use social media to spread their ideas and beliefs on different matters, including Covarrubias, who wants the Epstein files to be shared. The Epstein files, which cover information about sex trafficker Jeffery Epstein, were required to be released after President Donald Trump signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act in November of 2025, and though they have been released, a lot of the information has been heavily redacted.
“I feel like they should be released because it should be out there for our information, especially since it has to do with a lot of important figures in our government, and if that’s not being shared, then it’s not right for us,” Covarrubias said.