They are absolutely being banned. Universal bans and not allowing things to be published or sold at all is not the sole definition of banning things. That’s not the only way to define banning. It can be small, local, regional, or unilateral. There are many different places or ways a ban can take effect. The books are being banned from schools and libraries in some cases.

If I ban something from my house, it’s still a ban. If it’s banned from the neighborhood, that’s a ban. If it’s banned from only my kid’s school, that’s a ban.

I don’t get why some people think a national ban against the publish and sale of books is the only definition of a ban.