Ironically, the book was deemed problematic by the New York State English Council's Committee on Defenses Against Censorship because the committee said that its author,George Orwell, was himself a communist. It didn't matter that Orwell identified as a Democratic Socialist (not a communist) or that the book is a commentary on the evils of communist rule.

The book was also banned from being presented in play format in the US under pressure from Russia and several Soviet-controlled nations. Specifically, in 1986, the play version of Animal Farm was banned from inclusion in the Theatre of Nations Festival, which was sponsored by the UNESCO-founded International Theater Institute and hosted in the United States. The head of the festival was invited to Moscow, and the play was pulled from production, although it was produced in a much smaller secondary venue at the festival. In 1987, Animal Farm was banned briefly in certain schools in Florida for inappropriate messaging.

George Orwell's novel Animal Farm was banned for two reasons. First, the novel was banned (actually, it was a play based upon the novel which was banned) in 1991 in Kenya. The reasoning behind this was the play's/novel's criticism of corrupt leaders. The second time the novel was banned was in 2002. This time, the novel was banned in the schools of the United Arab Emirates. The reasoning behind this ban was the fact that the novel's speaking pigs went against Islamic ideologies and values.

Based upon this, any of the dialogue which takes place between the animals would qualify as a passage which would explain the controversy behind the book.

1. "No animal in England is free.": On top of the fact that an animal is talking, the idea that all "animals" in England are slaves could be seen as controversial (especially given the text was completed in 1945--WWII).

2. "We are born, we are given just so much food as will keep the breath in our bodies, and those of us who are capable of it are forced to work to the last atom of our strength.": Here, one could see the implications that Old Major is making about those in power (or those trying to gain power). Therefore, this passage could be seen as controversial based upon the fact that it alludes to the fact that those in power are simply worried about themselves. (This again speaks to the effects of war.)

3. "Four legs good, two legs better! Four legs good, two legs better! For legs good, two legs better!”: Here, again, the passage speaks to the fact that the oppression by the farmer is over and the animals can now rule themselves. (This again speaks to the outcomes of war.) Outside of that, this is against Islamic views and could certainly be a prominent passage which supported the reasoning behind the ban in the United Arab Emirates.

4. "Yet he is the lord of all animals.": This passage speaks to the fact that those on power (the typically corrupted) are the ones who do not have to work. Instead, they make slaves of those who are under their control. Therefore, this passage criticizes corrupt leaders.

5. "Napoleon, with the dogs following him, now mounted on to the raised portion of the floor where Major had previously stood to deliver his speech.": This passage is said to align with Stalin (a Communist dictator). The fact that this representation is being made during WWII was responsible for the novel being found to be critical of Russia (the USSR).

Animal Farm is a 1945 work by George Orwell that critically satirizes the Russian Revolution by placing it in the setting of a farm.

Several passages in the book make particularly pointed jibes at the life and history of the Soviet Union and make it questionable as a literary work appropriate for cultivating revolutionary solidarity in a communist state.

Periodically, throughout the story, mention of the anthem Beasts of England is made, to increasingly satirical effect, as in Part III:

The Meeting always ended with the singing of Beasts of England, and the afternoon was given up to recreation.

This is intended to lampoon the The Internationale.

Also, in Part III, democratic centralism is criticized as producing the same type of inequality that it seeks to obliterate.

The animals had assumed as a matter of course that these would be shared out equally; one day, however, the order went forth that all the windfalls were to be collected and brought to the harness−room for the use of the pigs. At this some of the other animals murmured, but it was no use.

When Boxer accidentally kills the stable boy during the repulse of the human counter-attack, Snowball reveals a lack of remorse, with the robotic regurgitation of a slogan.

"No sentimentality, comrade!" cried Snowball from whose wounds the blood was still dripping. "War is war. The only good human being is a dead one."

When Mollie defects to Foxwood it is noted that "None of the animals ever mentioned Mollie again." This is similar to the rewriting of history to eliminate those found guilty of ideological apostasy that occurred during the Stalinist era in the USSR.

As the animals prepare for a second human attack, discussions about the farm's defenses mirror the disagreement between Stalin's concept of "socialism in one country" and Trotsky's idea of "permanent revolution" which argued that the international could not survive in a capitalist world and non-capitalist states must be made communist.

As usual, Snowball and Napoleon were in disagreement. According to Napoleon, what the animals must do was to procure firearms and train themselves in the use of them. According to Snowball, they must send out more and more pigeons and stir up rebellion among the animals on the other farms. The one argued that if they could not defend themselves they were bound to be conquered, the other argued that if rebellions happened everywhere they would have no need to defend themselves.