Ten things no one tells you about working in T&S

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.

I returned from my recent New York trip with the sense that T&S isn't an obvious straightforward career choice to undertake, especially not in 2025. So I’m sharing a few lessons from more than 15 years in the field.

They’ll be most useful to early-career folks, but I suspect many T&S Insider readers have their own wisdom to add too. If that’s you, get in touch — I’d love to share your lessons in a future edition.

Yesterday was a bank holiday in the UK so, if you're wondering why this is hitting your inbox on a Tuesday, that's why. And, if you're in Dublin for the TSPA EMEA summit, enjoy! — Alice

How to survive — and thrive — in T&S

The rapid growth of Trust & Safety as an industry means that are few public-facing playbooks out there for building healthy and successful careers. Instead, T&S professionals tend to swap wisdom in Slack channels, Signal DMs, and conference hallways. For whatever reason, they rarely write it down. 

When it occasionally does happen, they’re often full of gems about what life is like as a T&S worker and what you can do to both survive and thrive.  Two of the best resources that I’ve come across are:

• Tips on navigating your career (Katie Harbath, Anchor Change) 
• Leadership advice for new T&S leaders (Bri Riggio, Integrity Institute) 

I wanted to add to that list so here are some lessons I’ve learned over the years: 

Everything changes: Company priorities change, vendors fold, and regulators rewrite the rules mid‑sprint. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to pivot. That said, the constant change is also what has kept me interested and engaged in T&S for so long. Some changes are exciting and open up new possibilities. 

You will be misunderstood: T&S wins are invisible by design; failures make headlines. Some colleagues may never understand why you blocked their shiny growth idea. The CEO may never value your work. 

Expect failures and crises: If you work in Trust & Safety, it’s not whether something bad will happen, it’s when. The goal isn’t zero crises (fantasy) but faster, calmer resolution. Focus on what you can influence, not what you can’t. 

You’ll have to make calls you’re uncomfortable with: So much of T&S work lives in the ambiguous grey areas. Sometimes there’s no good answer, and sometimes you have to make a call when you don’t have enough information. Document what you’re doing and why, and try to limit important decisions that you can’t reverse.

You’ll need to influence without authority: Whether you’re in leadership or not, you’ll often need to convince others to go along with your plan. Learn what is important to others and figure out how to speak their language. 

The work is traumatic: Trauma isn’t just for frontline workers. We are all at risk. Be proactive about your mental health. Everything else depends on it.

Non‑linear career paths are an option: Many people with long and successful careers in T&S are generalists (myself included). There is no set career path in T&S, and no one can hand you a playbook of how to grow your career. You need to build it yourself, based on your own strengths and weaknesses. 

Relationships matter more than you think: This is a small industry and people talk. It’s better to be gracious and generous with help and advice (even with competitors), than to get a negative reputation. You never know where future opportunities will come from or what people are saying about you.

You may be asked to cross ethical boundaries: Know what ethical boundaries you will not cross, and make the list before you need it. 

You can’t prioritise everything: You’ll have to make tradeoffs between things that are equally important: privacy and safety; safety and freedom of expression; accuracy and speed; the list goes on. It can feel heartbreaking at times, but doing something is better than nothing. 

All of this makes working in T&S sound terrible, but it’s also so rewarding. I’ve been doing this for 15 years and don’t plan on doing anything else.

Also worth reading

Content Moderation Simulation (TSPA)
Why? A fun little 20 question quiz that highlights why content moderation is difficult and nuanced.

The End of Trust and Safety?: Examining the Future of Content Moderation and Upheavals in Professional Online Safety Efforts (ACM Digital Library)
Why? An academic paper about the current state of T&S. The authors interviewed 20 T&S professionals about layoffs, burnout, shifts in employment, and what might be next.

Privacy-preserving Moderation of Illegal Online Content (CETaS)
Why? There are tradeoffs between Online Safety and Privacy, but they don't have to be mutually exclusive. This report looks at ways platforms can honor both values.

Researchers Secretly Ran a Massive, Unauthorized AI Persuasion Experiment on Reddit Users (404 Media)
Why? Ben included this in Friday's Week in Review but I wanted to draw attention to Reddit moderator's response to this one; they were so clear when communicating a complex issue with the users on the subreddit. Read the follow-up article here.

Online Safety Regulations Around The World: The State of Play and The Way Forward – A Resource Guide (NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights)
Why? A comprehensive look at online safety regulation globally.