New study: how tech companies tackle online content issues

An independent study of online trust and safety practice, the Internet Commission’s second accountability report identifies and evaluates 46 trust and safety practices in 6 organisations.

An independent study of online trust and safety practice, the Internet Commission’s second accountability report identifies and evaluates 46 trust and safety practices in 6 organisations.

Over the last two years, the Internet Commission has gathered evidence from a cohort of 6 tech companies. A number of industry-leading brands took part in the study: Sony Playstation (gaming), Tinder (dating) and Twitch (streaming). The findings aim to inform policymakers about the challenges online companies face and the tools they have available, and to encourage them to demonstrate accountability and act responsibly.

The EU’s Digital Services Act and the UK’s Online Safety Bill are significant developments in digital policy and regulation. Both take a systems approach to regulation: focusing on the design of digital operations, rather than attempting to rule on individual items of content. This report offers insights into these operations: the systems and processes that companies put in place, the challenges companies face, the tools they use, and how they can do better.

The Internet Commission identifies three important trends: user agency: the engagement of users in shaping content moderation and related policies, proactive oversight: how companies monitor and take responsibility for the social impact of their operations, and innovation: the opportunities for new technologies to support both safety and freedom online.

This accountability reporting process is the first of its kind. It involves collecting confidential data from companies according to an Evaluation Framework that focuses on how organisations are run and how they moderate content, including the design and automation of their operations. Following interviews with business leaders and front-line workers, individual case studies are built. Companies then engage in knowledge sharing workshops to look in detail at their challenges, approaches and success stories.

The report is available on our Reports page.