We launched the History of Trust & Safety Project to better understand and to document the growth, professionalization, practice, and study of trust and safety.

In 2024, we created and shared a free, public archive of more than 1,300 academic peer-reviewed sources covering topics relevant to T&S. (Learn more about the archive and how to access it here.) Between June 2023 and July 2024, we also conducted 63 interviews with a range of stakeholders about the history of T&S.

As of early 2026, the History of Trust & Safety Project has resulted in the following articles and essays:

• Bridging Theory & Practice: Examining the State of Scholarship Using the History of Trust and Safety Archive

• “I Tend to Run to Problems that People Run Away From”: Emotion as An Essential Asset in Trust and Safety Work (in press)

• Online Safety Depends on a Growing Trust and Safety Vendor Ecosystem

• Not Quite the Wild West, Not Entirely Black Boxes: The Governance of Online Platforms and the Evolving Field of Trust and Safety

• Voices of Trust & Safety: Origins and Evolutions