Introducing Safe for Work? — all about T&S jobs

I'm Alice Hunsberger. Trust & Safety Insider is my weekly rundown on the topics, industry trends and workplace strategies that trust and safety professionals need to know about to do their job.

This week's newsletter looks a little different as we're launching a new series all about T&S jobs. Read on for more — and drop me a line if you want to get involved. Here we go! — Alice

IN partnership with Resolver Trust & Safety

Twenty years in trust and safety has taught the team at Resolver that technology can scale protection, but it can't replace human understanding.

Behind every algorithm that detects harm, there’s a person who taught it what to look for. Behind every risk model, a human judgment that defined what “safe” really means.

In our fourth instalment of our “20 Years in Online Safety” series, we explore how the balance between human intelligence and machine capability has evolved — and why empathy will always be at the centre of effective safety systems.

As we look ahead, one thing is clear: the future of online safety isn't human or machine. It’s both — working together.

READ MORE HERE

Inside the 2025 T&S job market

If you’ve followed the T&S industry for a while, you’ll have noticed that investment ebbs and flows more often than an AI company updating its content policy.

When I first started in T&S in 2010, no one even knew that online moderation existed as a job. A decade later, as everyone spent more time online during COVID-19, safety teams expanded rapidly to keep up with the demand.

That year, the industry’s first professional body was formed, followed swiftly by other groups, such as the Integrity Institute. We met at more events — including the inaugural TrustCon — and connected in more ways than we’d ever done previously. Each time, it felt like there were more of us working in T&S than ever before. It was amazing.

Unfortunately, that golden era wasn’t to last. From 2023 onwards, we’ve seen massive layoffs across the tech industry, affecting thousands of workers. T&S teams have, unfortunately, been hit particularly hard. To anyone job-seeking over the last few years, it’s felt bleak. That feeling hasn’t been helped by the idea that generative AI means that fewer T&S professionals are needed.

It’s also a particularly fraught political climate right now, which puts a lot of pressure on the tech industry and Trust & Safety teams specifically. “Content moderation” has become a dirty word under the current US administration, marginalised communities are being targeted at unprecedented levels and T&S workers have been branded “the enemy”. All of this is happening while regulatory scrutiny and expectations are higher than ever, but there are fewer people left to balance all of this.

Gluttons for punishment?

Despite the challenges of working in T&S, I hear from lots of people who want T&S career advice — how to build new skills, expand their networks, or move into new roles. It’s one of the most consistent topics in my inbox, and last year’s Everything in Moderation audience survey confirmed it: EiM readers are hungry for insights on professional growth and career mobility.

That’s why Ben and I have spent the past few months developing Safe For Work? — a new series exploring what it means to build a career in Trust & Safety in 2025.

We’ve spoken to job seekers, hiring managers, and analysed data from the Trust & Safety Jobs Board, All Tech is Human’s Navigating the Shifting Sands of the Responsible Tech Job Market report, and the T&S Professionals Global Compensation Report from TSPA, among others. Together, these sources reveal how the job market is changing — and what might come next.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll share what we’ve learned — along with practical advice, resources, and insights grounded in real data. This series isn’t meant to be the final word (few things are in today’s job market) but we hope you’ll come along for the ride.

We also want to hear your first-hand experiences about T&S employment:

• Job seekers: How many roles have you applied for? What’s the market been like where you’re based?
• Recruiters and hiring managers: How has hiring changed over the last 2–3 years? Are you struggling to find the right candidates or seeing new expectations emerge?
• Everyone else: What advice would you give someone trying to break into Trust & Safety today? What do you wish you’d known when you started out?

Your experiences will help make this series richer and more representative of the field as a whole.

Finally, if you find value in Everything in Moderation, please share it with colleagues — and consider becoming a paid member. This project takes time, research, and care from both of us, and your support helps us keep it going.

— Alice and Ben