eli5 what is the difference between censorship and redaction? when the government releases files for the public, they redact quite a bit of information. Isn’t that censorship?
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Someone else stated “words have specific meanings and it’s important not to conflate them”.
This is only partially true.
A more fundamental understanding is that words have *multiple* meanings, and that in practice they *are* conflated. It is helpful for communication to be more precise about what meaning you’re using – but it is incorrect to assume that this is actually already happening most of the time.
There is no central authority that dictates what a given word “correctly means”. Even those cultures and nations that *claim* to have such an authority don’t actually have one – because there’s nothing that a “language institute” can actually *do* to force people to use a given meaning.
So, to your specific question – unfortunately, the answer is “it depends”.
Some people will use “censorship” in one sense, some people in another. By some definitions, yes, that’s censorship. By other definitions, no, it’s not censorship. Many definitions of censorship also aren’t binary; something may be “a little bit censorship-like” or “very censorship-like”.
There exists a somewhat common definition that applies “censorship” only to acts by government entities, and a related and also common definition that applies it only to acts by external entities. But there are other definitions that are also frequently used. Many people will, in practice, use “censorship” to mean any situation where any communication is restricted for any reason. And the *actual* most common usage in practice is something to the effect of “a communication restriction *that I don’t agree with* is censorship”.
So, in practice, someone is most likely to call redaction “censorship” if they dislike or disagree with the reasons for the redaction; and is less likely to call it “censorship” if they like, agree with, or are neutral on the reasons for the redaction.
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