I would put the date somewhere in the late years of the 19th century.
That’s when science became firmly established as the new god.
It would function as the replacement for religion.
As the years rolled on, its proponents became so sure of its Truth, censorship developed as a natural strategy.
Just as the Roman Church had censored (and punished in the extreme) its critics.
Science, it was said, was a new KIND of truth. It was based on empirical observation. Facts. Its hypotheses were tested.
Therefore, those who attacked its conclusions HAD TO BE WRONG. There could be no debate about that.
In which case, why not censor the attackers? Why not cast them out? Why not punish them?
The whole question of false science, pretended science, fabricated science developed to serve political goals was put aside. Ignored.
Meanwhile, political advisors, public relations professionals, marketers, mass communication experts saw a new horizon. A new tactic.
Make the most important political operations seem as if they rested on science.
Because then these operations would seem unassailable.
And now we have: climate change science; Critical Race Theory (science); gender dysphoria (psychiatric science), etc.
All concocted. All false.
All rationales for radical chaos and destruction.
Marxism itself was promoted as science. “Surplus Labor Theory.”
The follow-up to all this false science is censorship on behalf of “what we all know to be true.”
What harm could come from that?
Answer: all the harm in the world: