In The Maze Runner, the scientists who created and maintained the maze used network communication techniques to monitor and test the subjects in the maze. The group, known as W.C.K.D., setup the maze as a primitive society without access to technology so the kids were systematically deprived of information. This can be considered censorship by a governing body. The cage that brought a new member and food each month was the only form of communication to the outside world that the subjects had access to, but of course this was managed by W.C.K.D. themselves which makes this direct censorship. All information about the outside world was erased by the W.C.K.D. team, including the subjects' own memories. While the method with which W.C.K.D. altered their memories is not explicitly shown, it can be assumed that they spent time developing some device that can interact with their brains directly (perhaps like Neuralink).

To analyze the ethics of this censorship, we take a look at the motivations and effects of it. W.C.K.D.'s motivation for implementing this censorship stems from their hypothesis that the kids in the maze are immune to the Flare virus and can possibly lead to the cure. By censoring outside information and challenging the subjects W.C.K.D. was trying to control for variables in order to test that hypothesis. Examining their actions as an experiment, W.C.K.D. was clearly wrong here based on the fact that the core principles of ethical experimentation were violated [1]. There was no concern for the well being of the subjects and the purpose of the study was never purposely revealed.

Another approach we can take to analyze the censorship is through Mill's Principle of Harm. This states that it is morally excused if the people were actively causing harm to other members of the society. From W.C.K.D.'s perspective, "immunes" were harming the other members of society by keeping the cure to themselves. However, this argument falls off because there was a lack of scientific proof (which they were trying to find at the same time) and the fact that people of the society have a right over their own bodies. Therefore, they are not actively causing harm, they just happen to be immune to it. Because of this, holding the kids in the Glade is deemed unethical.

Overall, no matter how much Ava Paige insists that "W.C.K.D. is good," the actions they took in this movie are unethical on the basis of isolating the "immunes" without permission and limiting the information they have access to.

References:

[1] McLeod, S. A. (2015, January 14). Psychology research ethics. Simply Psychology. https://www.simplypsychology.org/Ethics.html