The Digital Trust & Safety Partnership will Develop Best Practices for Online Trust and Safety
WASHINGTON — Today leading technology companies formally launched the Digital Trust & Safety Partnership, a first-of-its-kind initiative aimed at promoting a safer and more trustworthy internet.
The Partnership is committed to developing industry best practices, reviewed through internal and independent third-party assessments, to ensure consumer safety and trust when using digital services. Bringing together a diverse range of the most innovative technology companies of different sizes and business models, the Digital Trust & Safety Partnership includes Discord, Facebook, Inc, Google, Microsoft, Pinterest, Reddit, Shopify, Twitter, and Vimeo.
“Trust and safety is a critical function at many of the world’s leading digital services companies. These are the people who spend their days working to keep consumers safe from abuse. The Digital Trust & Safety Partnership was formed to advance the best practices and assessments needed to support this emerging field,” said Alex Feerst, an advisor to the Digital Trust & Safety Partnership. “This is the beginning of a process, and we look forward to collaborating with stakeholders to foster greater transparency.”
As part of its launch, the Partnership is releasing a set of five key commitments agreed upon by the participating companies to ensure consumer safety and trust when using digital services. Also known as the “Digital Trust & Safety Partnership Best Practices Framework,” the partnership regards the following to be industry best practices:
Commitment 1: Identify, evaluate, and adjust for content- and conduct-related risks in product development.
Commitment 2: Adopt explainable processes for product governance, including which team is responsible for creating rules, and how rules are evolved.
Commitment 3: Conduct enforcement operations to implement product governance.
Commitment 4: Assess and improve processes associated with content- and conduct-related risks.
Commitment 5: Ensure that relevant trust & safety policies are published to the public, and report periodically to the public and other stakeholders regarding actions taken.
Each company will perform a review of its trust and safety practices before the Digital Trust & Safety Partnership shares a state of the industry report this year, which will evaluate companies’ implementation of the practices. This effort is not directed toward individual company policies or decisions, but focuses on how to perform and assess trust and safety as an evolving field. The Partnership will engage with consumer/user advocates, policymakers, law enforcement, relevant NGOs and various industry-wide experts to help further develop these best practices.
For more information please visit dtspqa.wpengine.com. Members of the press can contact the Digital Trust & Safety Partnership at press@dtspartnership.org.
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The Digital Trust & Safety Partnership is a first-of-its kind initiative focused on promoting a safer and more trustworthy internet. The Digital Trust & Safety Partnership includes Discord, Facebook, Inc., Google, Microsoft, Pinterest, Reddit, Shopify, Twitter, and Vimeo.