Everything You Need to Know About Trust and Safety and Content Moderation

Trust and Safety content moderation
Monday, June 20, 2022

In today’s digitally driven world, many brands are investing heavily in customer experience. When combined with the rise of social media, this means it’s becoming increasingly important that organisations put procedures in place to ensure customers feel safe online. Find out more about the importance of trust and safety and content moderation below…

1. What is the role of a trust and safety team?

Trust and safety teams are responsible for implementing an organisation’s community guidelines around keeping their customers safe online. The team also monitors and continually updates and adapts these guidelines. They create a pleasant customer experience, ensuring customers aren’t exposed to content or behaviour online that might be considered malicious. They are also responsible for keeping customer data safe and preventing its abuse through excessive marketing or spam.

2. What is malicious content?

The term “malicious” varies in meaning depending on the platform. It can refer to anything from spam, scams and fraud to behaviours like bullying and abuse as well as exposure to inappropriate content e.g. sexual/ graphic violence. Affected industries include:

  • Social media platforms;
  • Dating apps;
  • Gaming platforms;
  • Marketplaces.

3. What is content moderation?

Content moderation refers to the process of monitoring user-generated online content. User-generated content must adhere to a set of pre-established guidelines, set out by the organization. Anything that is in breach of these guidelines may be considered malicious and could be removed or the user responsible banned from further use of the platform.

4. Why is content moderation important?

Content moderation is important because it helps ensure that users are not exposed to potentially harmful or unpleasant content online. From a brand’s perspective, if a user encounters unpleasant content on your website/ app, they are unlikely to feel positively towards the brand, and therefore to engage again/ further.

5. Why is trust and safety important?

Ensuring customers feel safe engaging with your online platform(s) is important for brands as it can have a positive impact on customer acquisition, engagement and retention. It can improve online visibility and encourage word-of-mouth which have a knock-on effect on conversion. Effective trust and safety procedures create safe and inclusive environments for customers, who are more likely to feel positively towards a brand.

6. Is trust and safety a growing industry?

Trust, safety and content moderation are increasingly important functions for digital platforms and brands that regularly interact with customers online. Given the dominance of social media in 2022 and the increased prevalence of e-commerce, ensuring customers are protected online is more important than ever.

7. How can you get a career in trust and safety and content moderation?

There are very few trust and safety courses available so a qualification like Griffith’s Postgraduate Diploma in Trust, Safety and Content Moderation Management can really help learners develop the skills to implement effective trust and safety principals within their organisation. The programme is suitable for those looking for a content moderation course and can help graduates build a case for setting up a designated trust and safety team within their organisation. 

8. Who can become a trusty and safety professional?

Often viewed as a sub-set of compliance, becoming a trust and safety professional is a career that is still in its relative infancy. That said, given its growing importance, trust and safety is more commonly being treated as a separate division. Our Postgraduate Diploma in Trust, Safety and Content Moderation Management is aimed at early-stage trust, safety and content moderation professionals who want more formal trust and safety training. That said, applicants are not required to have a qualification or experience in the area.

9. How can I apply for the 2022/2023 Postgraduate Diploma in Trust, Safety and Content Moderation Management?

Candidates of this course can apply directly on our website, here. Applicants will be required to provide a copy of their photo ID and transcripts of relevant qualifications/ evidence of experience. General enquiries in the meantime can be directed to [email protected].