What Is “Censorship” in the Context of a PoS Validator and MEV?

Censorship occurs when a Proof-of-Stake validator, acting as a block proposer, deliberately excludes certain legitimate transactions from a block. In the context of MEV, a validator might censor transactions that compete with their own MEV strategy or those of their preferred searchers.

For example, they might exclude a rival searcher's profitable bundle to ensure their own bundle, or a partner's, is the only one to execute and profit from a specific opportunity.