Minecraft ‘loophole’ library of banned journalism

It started out as a project in an online forum and turned into the best-selling video game of all time, but now Minecraft is being used for something even its creator would not have dreamt of.

The iconic game based around placing Lego-like blocks with more than 145 million players each month has been turned into a hub of free speech.

A virtual library has been meticulously created to host articles written by journalists which were censored online.

Work by Jamal Khashoggi, the journalist killed by Saudi agents in 2018, can be read among the plethora of books in the library.

Minecraft has declined to comment.

The project was created by non-profit organisation Reporters Without Borders, which seeks to defend the freedom of information worldwide, and the Minecraft library itself was built by design studio Blockworks.

Christian Mihr, executive director of Reporters Without Borders Germany, told the BBC that Minecraft was good for the project as he believes it is not seen as a threat by governments which censor their media.

"We chose Minecraft because of its reach," he said. "It is available in every country. The game is not censored like some other games which are under suspicion of being political.

"There are big communities in each featured country, that's why the idea came up - it is a loophole for censorship."

He said the authors were chosen to represent the countries where press was censored, so that people from those communities would be able to access their work.

But he clarified that permissions were sought before republishing in the library.

"We didn't put any content in the library without the approval of respective authors themselves - if they are alive.

"In the case of Jamal Khashoggi we spoke to family members - in respect of people who have been killed, and the safety of their families."