Editing Bleep censor (section)

==History==
[[File:Bleep visual censor.gif|frame|right|Censor boxes, such as the one above, may be used along with the bleeps to prevent the audience from [[lip reading]] the swearer's words. Above, this animation says "Oh-", followed by the censor.]]
Bleeping has been used as a standard since 1998 as a means of [[Censorship|censoring]] TV and radio programs to remove content not deemed suitable for "family", "daytime", "broadcasting", or "international" viewing, as well as sensitive [[classified information]] for security.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theverge.com/2013/8/27/4545388/curses-the-birth-of-the-bleep-and-modern-american-censorship|title=Curses! The birth of the bleep and modern American censorship|last=Bustillos|first=Maria|date=2013-08-27|website=The Verge|language=en-US|access-date=2019-08-20}}</ref> The bleep censor is a software module, manually operated by a broadcast [[technician]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.yourdictionary.com/bleep-censor|title=Bleep-censor dictionary definition {{!}} bleep-censor defined|website=www.yourdictionary.com|access-date=2019-08-20}}</ref> A bleep is sometimes accompanied by a digital blur [[pixelization]] or box over the speaker's mouth in cases where the removed speech may still be easily understood by [[lip reading]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://deadline.com/2016/03/donald-trump-profanity-network-censorship-fcc-1201717741/|title=News Networks Should Stop Bleeping The Shit Out of Trump's Speeches|last=Robb|first=David|date=2016-03-10|website=Deadline|language=en|access-date=2019-08-20}}</ref>

In [[closed captioning|subtitles]], bleeped words are usually represented by "[bleep]". Sometimes the phrases "[expletive]", "[beep]", "[censored]", and "[explicit]" are used, while it is also common (though less so) to see [[hyphen]]s (e.g. abbreviations of the word "[[fuck]]" like ''f—k'' ''f---''<!-- sic -->), a series of X's, or [[asterisk]]s and other non-letter symbols (e.g. ****, f***, f**k, f*ck, f#@k or f#@%), remaining faithful to the audio track. The characters used to denote censorship in text are called [[grawlix]]es.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Lexicon of Comicana|last=Walker|first=Michael|date=2000-03-21|publisher= iUniverse |isbn=978-0595089024|language=en}}</ref><!--Where open captions are used (generally in instances where the speaker is not easily understood) or the profanities with letters substituted with asterisks non-letter symbols, called [[grawlixes]].{{citation needed|date=April 2022}}--> Where open captions are used (generally in instances where the speaker is not easily understood) a blank is used where the word is bleeped. Occasionally, bleeping is not reflected in the captions, allowing the unedited dialogue to be seen.{{citation needed|date=April 2022}} Sometimes, a "[[Censor bars|black bar]]" can be seen for a closed caption bleep.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.self.com/story/queer-eye-netflix-closed-captions|title=I Rely On Closed Captions to Enjoy a Show And I Don't Appreciate Netflix's Way of Censoring Them|last=Ratcliff|first=Ace|website=SELF|date=10 July 2018|language=en|access-date=2019-08-20}}</ref>{{Better source needed|date=August 2019}}

Bleeping is mostly used in unscripted programs such as [[documentary film|documentaries]], [[radio documentary|radio features]], and [[panel game]]s, since scripted productions are designed to suit the time of their broadcast. For example, on the [[Discovery Channel]], bleeping is extremely common. In the case of scripted comedies, most bleeping may be used for humorous purposes, and other sound effects may be substituted for the bleep tone for comical effect; examples of this include a [[slide whistle]], a baby cooing, [[Sailor Mouth|dolphin noises]], or the "boing" of a [[Coil spring|spring]]. Some scripted comedies purposely incorporate bleeping for comedic purposes; for example, profanity in the American sitcom ''[[Reno 911!]]'' is always bleeped as the show is presented in a [[mockumentary]] style, while a [[running joke|recurring joke]] used in sketches by Australian comedy group [[Aunty Donna]] features the bleep appearing slightly too late, resulting in the original profanity being clearly heard before it is immediately followed by a bleep that either serves no purpose or interrupts what the speaker was saying after they had already used profanity.

Other uses of bleeping may include [[reality television]], [[infomercials]], [[game shows]], and daytime/late night [[talk show]]s, where the bleep conceals personally identifying information such as ages, [[surname]]s, addresses/hometowns, phone numbers, and attempts to advertise a personal business without advanced or appropriate notice, in order to maintain the subject's privacy (as seen for subjects arrested in episodes of ''[[Traffic Cops]]'' or ''[[COPS (TV series)|COPS]]'').<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/18/opinion/cops-podcast-investigation-abuse.html|title=Opinion {{!}} Is the Show 'Cops' Committing Crimes Itself?|last=Taberski|first=Dan|date=2019-06-18|work=The New York Times|access-date=2020-02-06|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>{{Better source needed|date=February 2020}}

When [[film]]s are edited for daytime/nighttime TV, broadcasters may prefer not to bleep swearing, but cut out the segment containing it, replace the speech with different words, or cover it with silence or a [[sound effect]].{{Citation needed|date=August 2019}}

Bleeping is commonly used in [[English language|English]]-language, [[Russian language|Russian]]-language and [[Japanese language|Japanese]]-language broadcasting, and also in ex-[[Eastern Bloc]] countries like Poland, Hungary, Romania, [[Baltic states]], most [[post-Soviet states]], but is sometimes and rarely used in some other languages (such as [[Arabic language|Arabic]], [[Chinese language|Chinese]], [[Danish language|Danish]], [[Dutch language|Dutch]], [[Icelandic language|Icelandic]], [[Filipino language|Filipino]], [[Finnish language|Finnish]], [[French language|French]], [[German language|German]], [[Greek language|Greek]], [[Italian language|Italian]], [[Korean language|Korean]], [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]], [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], [[Spanish language|Spanish]], [[Swedish language|Swedish]], [[Polish language|Polish]], [[Thai language|Thai]], [[Turkish language|Turkish]] and [[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]]), displaying the varying attitudes between countries; some are more liberal towards swearing, less inclined to use strong profanities in front of a camera in the first place, or unwilling to censor. For example, in Norway, Sweden, Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands, the bleep censor is not used for censoring out swear words on the television and radio broadcasting as people from these countries people swear more freely than people from English-speaking countries.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bjerggaard |first=Christina |date=2021-06-16 |title=Swearing in the Nordic languages |url=https://stptrans.com/swearing-in-the-nordic-languages/ |access-date=2025-04-23 |website=Sandberg Translation Partners |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-07-28 |title=German Curse Words 101: Using German Swear Words Like a Pro |url=https://lingopie.com/blog/learn-curse-words-in-german/#:~:text=German%20TV%20does%20not%20often,and%20develop%20your%20colloquial%20language. |access-date=2025-04-23 |website=The blog for language lovers {{!}} Lingopie.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Dutchness {{!}} 45 |first=Guide to |title=The Dutch Love Swearing in English {{!}} Stuff Dutch People Like |url=https://stuffdutchpeoplelike.com/2017/03/10/the-dutch-love-swearing-in-english/ |access-date=2025-04-23 |language=en-US}}</ref>

On live TV airings, live TV broadcastings prefer to mute the sound to censor profanity rather than bleep over it.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Jordan |first=Matthew |date=2023-05-02 |title=Jerry Springer and the history of that [bleeping] bleep sound |url=http://theconversation.com/jerry-springer-and-the-history-of-that-bleeping-bleep-sound-204669 |access-date=2023-08-03 |website=The Conversation |language=en}}</ref> This was already the case on March 27, 2022, when American television broadcasters muted the sound during a live broadcast of the Oscars after [[Chris Rock–Will Smith slapping incident|Will Smith slapped Chris Rock]] and shouted, "Keep my wife's name out your fucking mouth!",<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elliott |first=Josh |title=Will Smith Lost It At Chris Rock Over A Joke About Jada's Baldness & The Oscars Muted Him - Narcity |url=https://www.narcity.com/will-smith-lost-it-at-chris-rock-over-a-joke-about-jadas-baldness-the-oscars-muted-him |access-date=2023-08-03 |website=www.narcity.com |language=en-us}}</ref> to which Rock responded, "Will Smith just smacked the shit out of me!". Nevertheless, the complete verbal exchange between Smith and Rock was broadcast uncensored in other countries like Japan, China, Australia, and Argentina.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Montgomery |first=Hanako |date=2022-03-28 |title=What Will Smith's Slap of Chris Rock Looks Like From Around the World |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/will-smith-slaps-chris-rock-japan-australia-reactions/ |access-date=2023-11-14 |website=Vice |language=en}}</ref>

Bleeping frequently occurs in videos on the Internet. [[YouTube]] videos often have profanity bleeped or muted out as YouTube policy specifies that videos including profanities may be "demonetized" or stripped of ads.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Spangler |first=Todd |date=2019-01-14 |title=YouTube Explains Which Profanities and 'Inappropriate Language' Are Not OK for Ad-Supported Videos |url=https://variety.com/2019/digital/news/youtube-profanity-ad-supported-video-demonetized-1203107619/ |access-date=2023-08-03 |website=Variety |language=en-US}}</ref> Beginning in 2019, the bleep censor began to be more often used for censoring out words [[Algospeak|related to sensitive and contentious topics]] to evade algorithmic censorship online, especially on [[Meta Platforms|Meta]] and [[TikTok]] platforms.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Nix |first=Naomi |date=2023-10-22 |title=Pro-Palestinian creators use secret spellings, code words to evade social media algorithms |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/10/20/palestinian-tiktok-instagram-algospeak-israel-hamas/ |access-date=2024-05-31 |newspaper=Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Jgln |first=Katie |date=2024-03-06 |title=Women's Health Content Is Routinely Censored on Social Media |url=https://medium.com/the-no%C3%B6sphere/its-no-wonder-why-women-s-health-is-routinely-censored-on-social-media-d883daa48fbf |access-date=2024-05-31 |website=The Noösphere |language=en}}</ref>