What small T&S teams actually do with AI
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, I'm thinking about the conversation we had during the last EiM Community Call, focused on small platforms and what's working (and not working) for them right now.
Get in touch if you'd like your questions answered or just want to share your feedback. Here we go! — Alice
Your users may not be who you think they are.
The latest Thorn research shows why platform safety strategies need to account for how minors actually use digital products—not just how those products are intended to be used.
Nearly half of minors surveyed said they had accessed a platform before meeting its minimum age requirement. More than a quarter reported an online sexual interaction. And AI is increasingly part of the safety journey: 15% said they turned to an AI chatbot or companion for advice afterward.
For leaders across social, gaming, dating, generative AI, and other UGC platforms, these findings raise important questions about product design, moderation, reporting, and AI governance.
The T&S folks punching above their weight
When I worked at Grindr, one of my biggest bugbears was about how much of the focus of the industry — and surrounding stakeholders — was on the biggest platforms.
Everyone wanted to know what they were doing, how they were solving for x or y harm, or, latterly, how they were complying with incoming regulation. In some ways, that made sense; the influence of these dozen-ish platforms is outsized because of their collective user base and market share. But there are thousands of smaller apps, sites, games, and community spaces that also have a need for Trust & Safety, with their own unique perspectives and priorities.
To me, these small and mid-sized platforms are more interesting because:
- The budget is smaller and doesn't go as far, so teams are constantly feeling stretched thin. Not only does this make the work hard, but it becomes a challenge to find time to connect with other T&S professionals and can lead to health and wellbeing issues if not addressed.
- Regulations affect these platforms more heavily, because each request is a larger burden for a small team that can only do so much.
- Because the public (and the media) thinks of platforms as a homogenous group, the good work done by less flashy platforms goes unnoticed. That has a bearing on everything from morale to compensation.
- They are able to focus on niche aspects of user experience more deeply than larger platforms, and have more flexibility to experiment and innovate.
Ben and I decided to focus the topic of our most recent call on these small and mid-sized platforms. A big thank you to everyone who joined. Remember, you can take part in November's call by signing up here.
What small teams are doing with AI
One of the interesting things that came out of that discussion was that just as regulation has an outsized effect on what small T&S teams prioritise, AI has an outsized effect on what is now possible to get done.
On the call, participants gave examples of their teams using AI to: