Will CarlessChris UlleryAlia Wong, USA Today ; What's behind the national surge in book bans? A low-tech website tied to Moms for Liberty
"These so-called challenges appeared to begin locally, with no obvious connections. But they shared a common thread: The book review material submitted by local parents was not written by those parents.
Instead, it was taken word for word from a website called BookLooks.org.
The site launched in 2022 to showcase a book-rating system that has also been used by right-wing political activist group Moms for Liberty. It bills itself as a resource for parents, and claims not to be pushing political action: ”We do not support ‘banning’ books,” the site says.
In less than two years, BookLooks has become the go-to resource for anyone seeking to ban books – especially books about gay people or sexuality – from school and public libraries, according to researchers, library experts and a USA TODAY analysis of book-ban attempts nationwide.
Across at least a dozen states, USA TODAY found attempts to remove hundreds of book titles that directly cited BookLooks reviews."
