The word Sanitization means to clean or decontaminate.

The term "sanitization" is a euphemism commonly used in the context of propaganda, to refer to the doctoring of information for purposes of eliminating incriminating, self-contradictory, controversial, or otherwise perceived-as-damaging data.

A well-known example of sanitization policies comes from the USSR under Stalin, where publicly used photographs were often altered to remove people who Stalin had ordered executed. Hitler was considered a pioneer in creating propaganda material, all of which was, by definition, sanitized for the improvement of the Nazi image.

Censorship is a form of sanitization. Specifically, censorship refers to a socially accepted policy of eliminating material rejected as harmful. Censorship, unlike acts or policies of sanitization, refers to a publicly set standard, not a privately set (or government-enforced but unannounced) standard. Censorship does not attempt to cover up material made by an organization, but rather to restrict or abolish defined types of material produced by private citizens.

List of websites with known sanitization policies:

(Cleans-up mistakes made in speeches by US President George W. Bush, it also contains little contradictory information of current administration policies, and has deleted any reference to controversial Corporate accounting scandal figure Ken Lay, among others. In a different example of sanitization, the U.S. State Department website will display material only when it supports administration policies. For example the website contains in full, the UN Security Council resolutions, which support the administration in its views of Iraq, but will not show such UN resolutions against Israel or the US.