Postcensorship

Postcensorship refers to the condition or period following the removal, relaxation, or absence of formal censorship policies in a jurisdiction, institution, or platform. In political contexts, it is associated with transitions from authoritarian or semi-authoritarian regimes toward more open information environments, often accompanied by legal reforms, freedom of information laws, and stronger protections for media pluralism.

In practice, postcensorship can produce a broader range of permitted content, investigative journalism, and public debate, but it also raises new challenges such as self-censorship due to fear of legal risk or economic pressure, and the emergence of new gatekeepers, including platform moderation and corporate policies. Content may become abundant and less curated, while surveillance and legal risk persist.

During postcensorship phases, archives, declassified documents, and whistleblowing can become more visible, while limitations may persist in other forms, such as defamation laws, copyright enforcement, or national security restrictions that are reinterpreted rather than removed. Postcensorship is therefore not a guarantee of complete openness.

Scholarly usage notes: some analysts argue the term is contested because censorship never fully ends; instead, it shifts. Others use it to discuss the asymmetry between formal removal of censorship and informal social norms or economic realities that continue to constrain expression.