Bypassing digital firewalls of the world’s most authoritative regimes is a challenge. Fascinating millions of young people for press freedom and engaging them in political activism an even bigger one. The Uncensored Library by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) does both. A digital library providing young people with independent journalism playfully educates them and empowers them to stand up for their rights. For the first time ever, the computer game Minecraft was used in a ground-breaking new way – becoming a loophole to bypass censorship. Leading to press freedom becoming a trending topic within the Minecraft community and global mainstream media.

Two years after the acclaimed “Uncensored Playlist”, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) wanted to find a way to overcome censorship and get young people excited about press freedom. The aim was to bring independent journalism to millions of young people who grow up in oppressive countries and suffer under strict online censorship. They are especially vulnerable to disinformation by authoritarian governments and need to learn the truth about the real political situation in their countries.

But RSF also wanted to raise international awareness for the importance of press freedom and their fight against censorship. To carry on the purpose of the NGO, they needed to effectively reach a younger, not yet politically very active target group to educate and participate.

How to overcome censorship and at the same time excite young people about press freedom? By bringing it to their world: Minecraft.

Because even in countries where almost all media is blocked – Minecraft, one of the world’s biggest computer games, with more than 126 million active players per-month, is easily accessible. In these countries that increasingly restrict the rights of their citizens, especially young people flee into games like Minecraft. The game still provides freedom in a virtual world and has the characteristics of a social medium. In addition, Minecraft has books that can be freely written and read inside the game.

RSF used this loophole to build a huge digital library in Minecraft: The Uncensored Library.

A monument for press freedom impressive enough to grab the attention of the international gaming community. And for the first time ever, a game was transformed into a tool to overcome censorship.

The countries featured in the library were picked by comparing RSF’s “World Press Freedom Index” with Google data (Minecraft interest by country). Accordingly, journalists and their articles from countries with poor press freedom rating but high Minecraft interest were chosen by RSF.

In order to reach young gamers in oppressive countries with no access to the mainstream media, RSF needed to activate the well-connected Minecraft community to spread the word inside the game. To catch their attention, it needed a ground-breaking new use of Minecraft combined with an exciting gameplay experience. A social media campaign was directly targeting the community and gaming influencers, who are constantly on the lookout for exciting new topics to talk about.

The key strategy was to build the library so impressive the gaming community could not ignore it and tell the whole story in a fascinating, emotional way to get picked up by the news.

Censored articles from acclaimed journalists became uncensored Minecraft-books, available in English and their original language in the library. It took 12.5 million Lego-like blocks to build the enormous library inside the game and it uses Minecraft’s in-game resources in an unseen and innovative way. A giant monument for press freedom that has a jaw-dropping effect on gamers at first sight.

On World Day Against Cyber Censorship (March 12th, 2020), the library opened its doors inside Minecraft. Along with a whole campaign including an emotional launch film, a making-of film, social media posts and a website, giving background information about the project and the journalists. Here visitors can access the library by an interactive walkthrough outside Minecraft and download the library map “censorship-protected” by blockchain technology. It can then be hosted again in Minecraft – allowing it to multiply fast and making it impossible to censor (+250K downloads – and Counting).

The Uncensored Library reached 20 million gamers from 165 countries, including Russia, Vietnam, Egypt, Mexico and Saudi Arabia (total playtime +15 years).

Gaming influencers like CaptainSparklez talked about it and the community got excited and created more than 400 gameplay videos. What governments tried to hide suddenly was a trending topic.

More than 790 news articles with a total media reach of 2.7B (media budget €0) made the campaign a huge international awareness success for RSF. It engaged people in their cause (+3500 new membership requests) and donations for RSF increased significantly by 62%, helping them to extend their global fight for press freedom. The library even became a teaching tool in many schools and universities and the Design Museum London made it a permanent part of their exhibition.

The library will stay open indefinitely – to empower young people and give them back their human right to access information.