Good news — you can now properly swear on Microsoft Teams calls...unless you work for the government

Microsoft Teams is set to modify how it handles profanity in live captions, allowing users to curse more freely on calls. The toggle to conceal inappropriate language is now set to "Off" by default, unlike before when it was "On." However, government users will face a delay before they can take advantage of the change, with an extended deadline of August 2026 for their rollout.

Microsoft first introduced the profanity toggle in 2023, but recently decided to disable it by default for some users, aiming to provide captions that more accurately represent spoken content, hence improving accessibility and complying with regional regulations. The change applies to general users, while government users, including those in Government Community Cloud (GCC), GCC High, and the US Department of Defense, will have to wait longer due to security and operational reasons.

Microsoft assured users they can still manually enable or disable the filter, though support teams and users are encouraged to inform each other about this. This move is part of a series of recent updates aimed at enhancing the Teams experience, including the introduction of "Badges" to showcase users' achievements and a feature that automatically updates users' work locations when they connect to office Wi-Fi networks.