How Digital Trust And Safety Became A Growth Strategy

Forbes

6 days ago

Terry Chen, COO & CIO @ Modulate, Board Member of Marketplace Risk & ECPAT International.
A decade ago, content moderation was viewed as a housekeeping chore that followed product launches and marketing pushes. Today, it is a board-level priority that directly influences customer lifetime value, regulatory exposure and investor confidence. Across gaming, healthcare, fintech, e-commerce and social media, robust trust and safety programs are being treated not as expense lines but as engines of growth.
The Business Case Widens
Users now spend more time online than watching television, and their expectations have matured. They expect private data to stay private, transactions to complete without fraud and conversations to proceed without harassment—particularly from bad actors using hate speech, threats, cyberbullying and toxic behavior that can include everything from verbal abuse to coordinated harassment campaigns. When those expectations are met, revenue follows.
Research by Everest Group identifies trust and safety (T&S) services as a fast-growing business process services market segment, projecting the industry will accelerate to 60% to 68% growth this year and beyond. Avasant's research (registration required) shows the current market demonstrates significant growth potential, with more than 5.4 billion internet users, significantly augmented and enhanced by generative artificial intelligence (AI) and various content automation tools.
An ecosystem has emerged to meet that demand. For example, Resolver's trust intelligence platform, recently augmented by the acquisition of Crisp, gives brand-protection teams real-time alerts when counterfeit goods, extremist propaganda or insider data leaks appear. ActiveFence provides multilingual threat detection that detects livestreamed violence or hate speech before it reaches audiences.
Nonprofits such as the Family Online Safety Institute convene companies and policymakers to refine best practices, while the Trust and Safety Professional Association (TSPA) offers certification programs for a growing cadre of professionals. (Full disclosure: I am a member of TSPA.)
Proactive Measures That Pay
Leading companies have moved beyond reactive takedowns toward prevention. Consider the global game publisher that integrated an AI voice-chat monitoring system across its flagship shooter franchise last year. The tool flags toxic speech as it happens and guides moderators to the worst incidents first.
Within three months, repeat harassment fell 8% each month, and player exposure to abusive voice chat was cut nearly in half. According to research, games with less toxicity have a 16% higher player retention rate over toxic games, while gaming businesses with high player retention rates achieve revenue growth that is 50% higher than those with low retention rates. Academic research shows that toxic players drive away new players, but that experienced players are more resilient to deviant behavior.
E-commerce platforms are taking similar steps. Sophisticated image recognition now spots counterfeit goods or intellectual-property theft before listings go live. Fraud-anomaly engines evaluate hundreds of signals per transaction, from device fingerprint to shopping behavior. The payoff is hard to ignore: According to Juniper Research, e-commerce losses to online payment fraud are expected to reach $206 billion this year. Each percentage point of additional detection could save millions.
Fintech firms strengthen know-your-customer checks through behavioral biometrics, confirming that the account owner, rather than a bot, is typing or tapping. Healthcare systems deploy anomaly detection on electronic health record databases, guarding patient data and avoiding costly breaches—IBM's Cost of a Data Breach Report 2024 found the average healthcare data breach reached $9.77 million in 2024.
A Falcon's Lesson On Precision
In any discussion of speed and threat detection, biologists often mention the peregrine falcon. According to research documented by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Geographic, peregrine falcons have been clocked at speeds exceeding 240 mph (386 km/h), and they can spot prey from great heights before diving with lethal precision. All the while, they adjust their trajectory to wind shifts and target movement.
Effective trust and safety programs function in a similar triad of sight, speed and precision. They scan vast data streams for early signals, react instantly and intervene only where necessary, leaving legitimate users undisturbed. This underscores why piecemeal or slow-moving safety efforts cannot keep up with modern risks.
Age Assurance And Youth Protection
The European Union's Digital Services Act and the United States' COPPA statute both require platforms to restrict certain content and data collection for children. Failure can be ruinous: As an example, in 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that Epic Games agreed to pay $275 million in civil penalties, the largest civil penalty ever imposed for a COPPA violation.
Some companies are now pursuing frictionless age estimation that works in seconds, uses minimal personal data and preserves user experience. The result is compliance without the conversion drop that plagued older document-upload methods.
Regulatory Headwinds Turned Tailwinds
Regulatory fines have become large enough to attract the CFO's attention. The Digital Services Act allows penalties of up to 6% of global turnover for illegal-content failures; the General Data Protection Regulation can impose 4% of worldwide revenue for privacy breaches. HIPAA violations in the United States can cost up to $1.5 million per year per category.
Yet a strong safety posture can convert compliance into advantage. Firms that demonstrate proactive controls often receive lighter scrutiny and gain faster approvals for new services. PwC's Trust Survey research indicates that companies with mature trust and safety operations report stronger investor confidence, with 41% of executives saying the cost of capital is at risk if investors don't trust their company; 38% say access to capital and 38% say market value is at risk.
Counting The Returns
Fraud Prevention: Reduced chargebacks and stolen-account losses drop straight to operating profit.
User Retention: Players and shoppers who feel protected are more likely to stay longer, spend more and refer friends.
Advertiser Confidence: Brands flee toxic environments. Clean ecosystems attract premium ad rates.
Operational Efficiency: AI triage lets human moderators focus on high-stakes cases, lowering head count stress and costs.
Regulatory Buffer: Audit trails and documented policies can shorten investigations and potentially reduce fines.
Executive Playbook
Tie safety to core key performance indicators: Track fraud dollars averted, retention lifts and ad-revenue changes after safety upgrades.
Hardwire compliance early: Map each user flow to its regulatory obligations so safeguards are embedded, not retrofitted.
Leverage specialists: External platforms can deliver scale and expertise faster than home-grown builds.
Foster a safety culture: Regular tabletop drills and continuing education keep staff alert to new threat vectors.
Report to the board: Translate safety outcomes into financial language. Demonstrating a tangible return on investment can help secure sustained investment.
The Road Ahead
Digital interaction will only intensify. Artificial intelligence tools generate convincing deepfakes, fraud rings migrate from credit cards to loyalty points, and geopolitical conflicts spill into online spaces. Companies that match the peregrine's vigilance and agility will be positioned to convert those challenges into strategic gains. Those that lag will struggle to acquire users, attract advertisers and obtain regulatory clearance.
Trust and safety, once a footnote in annual reports, is now essential infrastructure. Finance leaders who treat it as a growth lever will better protect their customers and unlock new revenue streams in a single stroke.
The information provided here is not investment, tax or financial advice. You should consult with a licensed professional for advice concerning your specific situation.
Forbes Finance Council is an invitation-only organization for executives in successful accounting, financial planning and wealth management firms. Do I qualify?