Code of Conduct

What is the Trust and Safety Foundation?

The Trust and Safety Foundation (TSF) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charitable organization that convenes key stakeholders to engage in interdisciplinary dialogue to help improve society’s understanding and to further the field of trust and safety. 

Our vision is for trust and safety to be recognized as central to the design and development of technology and related policymaking. 

At TSF, we value:

  • Accessible and clear content. TSF aims to produce—and enable others to produce—accessible and clear content about trust and safety.
  • Collaborative conversations. TSF prioritizes and creates space for collaborative conversations.
  • Interdisciplinary engagement. TSF serves as a hub for a wide range of diverse stakeholders who are invested in trust and safety as a field. We foster interdisciplinary engagement and thoughtful dialogue among policymakers, technology companies and technologists, civil society organizations, non-profits, journalists, and academics.
  • Rigorous and ethical research practices. The Trust & Safety Research Coalition, a project of TSF, is dedicated to pursuing research questions relevant to trust and safety, supporting and developing rigorous data collection and analysis methodologies, and ensuring that all research conducted by the Coalition meets the highest ethical standards.
  • Transparent and accountable decision-making. At TSF, our aim is to practice transparency in processes and decision-making.

Community Expectations

The code of conduct applies to all TSF spaces, which include but are not limited to: 

  • Online and offline events, such as TSF conferences, virtual summits, panel discussions, roundtables, meetups, reading groups, and mixers.
  • Collaborative workspaces or chat groups, such as Google Docs, Slack, or Discord.
  • Any communication (digital or analog) carried out in the context of TSF business or collaborations. 

This code of conduct applies to the TSF community, which includes, but is not limited to:

  • TSF staff, board, and advisors
  • Members of the Trust & Safety Research Coalition
  • Partners
  • Supporters
  • Stakeholders
  • Individuals with whom TSF and members engage in the course of TSF activities and spaces 

Healthy Engagement and Communication

We do not expect our community to agree on everything; in fact, we believe that differences of perspectives and opinions are necessary for individual learning and growth and to promote innovation and creativity within TSF, the trust and safety profession writ large, and our broader communities. We do, however, expect community members to aim for positive, civil discourse that is constructive and informative, with the understanding that our diversity makes us stronger.   

Healthy tension in collegial discussion can help us grow, but unhealthy conflict can result in a chilling effect. To make TSF as welcoming as it can be for all, we expect the following:

Be Open To Learning

  • We encourage members of the community to be intellectually curious. Ask questions. 
  • Be ready to listen and engage. Try to be mindful of any preconceived judgment or assumptions. 

Support Each Other

  • Help each other out. We’re all working on the same sorts of problems, and the more we share our ideas and compare our approaches, the better off everyone will be. 
  • Encourage others to participate. Bring other people along into the conversation, and create space for others to share ideas. Do not dominate conversations or engage in behaviors that prevent others from participating.
  • Do not disparage other people’s work or their approach to their work. 

Recognizing Structural Bias and Inequities

TSF was built to be an inclusive and community-focused organization. Ensuring that people feel welcome and comfortable is the cornerstone of our code of conduct, and we’ll always prioritize it. There may be times when unexamined perspectives on structural bias or other inequities compromise community trust and result in conflict or disagreements. 

Below are examples of conflicts that may arise due to lack of awareness, privilege, and unconscious bias. 

  • Invocation of “Reverse”-isms: Claims of “reverse”-isms include allegations of “reverse racism,” “reverse sexism,” and “cisphobia.”
  • Tone policing: Feeling that someone’s “tone” isn’t appropriately congenial or agreeable while they are calling out bias/prejudice or voicing concern about an issue.
  • Discomfort with boundary communication: Discomfort when someone communicates their boundaries in a way the listener perceives as rude, such as “Leave me alone,” “Go away,” or “I’m not discussing this with you.”
  • Discomfort with discourse on structural bias: Someone calling out the existence of racist, sexist, cissexist, ableist, or otherwise oppressive behavior or assumptions.

When made aware, TSF will work to address the situation to ensure that all people feel welcome and work to increase recognition of structural bias and inequities. We will also engage in conversations with individuals to increase awareness of privilege and unconscious bias.

Authentic Participation

We want those in our community to be who they are and act in good faith by being authentic and truthful about themselves and their work. Community members should be truthful about their professional affiliations, and the work they’ve done. 

Additionally, TSF’s spaces are meant for collaboration, interdisciplinary dialogue, and learning. We want people to be able to collaborate with one another and not feel pressure to market their company’s product or to be sold a product.  

The following are inauthentic behaviors that could result in action from TSF: 

  • Impersonating another individual or role. 
  • Saying you work for a specific organization when you don’t.
  • Taking credit for someone else’s ideas or work, including plagiarizing. 
  • Sharing or making copies of someone else’s work product without approval or consent. 
  • Using TSF’s spaces to fundraise, market, or sell a product, tool, or service. 

A Respectful Community

As a community building organization, it is critical that those in our community behave with respect towards each other. Below are areas of conduct with guidelines about expected behavior.

Privacy and Confidentiality

To foster trust and protect others’ personal safety, we expect people to respect others’ privacy and, where requested or legally required, adhere to confidentiality. 

Community members are expected to adhere to implicit and explicit confidentiality expectations when engaging in TSF’s activities, events, or networking spaces. For example, if a meeting is operating under the Chatham House Rule, participants are free to use the information received, but they should not review neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s) or any other participant. When communicating with other participants in a closed space, such as a limited access Google Doc, information discussed there should remain among invited authors only and not be shared externally. If you are unsure of confidentiality expectations at an event, discussion, or space, ask a TSF staff member.

The following are behaviors that could violate privacy and confidentiality and result in action from TSF. 

  • Sharing others’ personal information without their consent. Personal information includes: name, contact details (email, phone number, address), current or former employer, location, or other personally identifiable information. 
  • Doxxing: Do not publicly share private and personal information of anyone in the TSF community.
  • Intellectual property infringement: Do not take or share screenshots or screen recordings of TSF virtual or in-person events, website pages, and/or online communication spaces without the consent of TSF. Similarly, do not share other TSF community members’ work without permission. 
  • Violating confidentiality agreements, such as sharing information that was disclosed in a confidential discussion. 

Hate Speech

Members of the TSF community shall not make harmful or prejudicial comments related to race, color, caste, ethnicity, immigration status, national origin, religion or faith, sex or gender identity, sexual orientation, disability or medical condition, lower socio-economic status, age, weight or size, pregnancy, veteran status, or any other attributes or characteristics. Such behaviors could result in action from TSF, including banning from TSF events or activities. 

Harassment, Bullying, Threats, and Violence

Members of the TSF community shall not engage in behaviors such as intimidating, stalking, or threatening other individuals. Behaviors such as assault, damage to others’ property or person, or other behaviors with the intent to harass or harm are prohibited. Such behaviors could result in action from TSF, including banning from TSF events or activities. 

Sexual Harassment 

Unwelcome sexual or romantic attention, contact, behavior, or advances are inappropriate. Nonconsensual sexual contact or sexual assault is prohibited. Such behaviors could result in action from TSF, including banning from TSF events or activities. 

Disruptive Behavior

Members of the TSF community should not inhibit the normal flow of business with disruptive behavior. Disruptive behavior that could result in action from TSF includes the following:

  • Repeatedly sending irrelevant or spammy content through TSF communication channels.
  • Distributing nude or sexual content, violent and gory content, hate speech, etc. outside of the context of a trust and safety discussion. (See next section on “Sensitive Content.”)

Sensitive Content

Due to the nature of trust and safety work, there may be times when stakeholders need to share, discuss, or debate material that is offensive or harmful. We expect members to engage in these discussions with respect and empathy. Where possible, TSF will try to apply content warnings to let people know that they may encounter sensitive topics and content (written, visual, or audio) in TSF discussions, documents, or other material. Depending on availability and context, content warnings could take the form of interstitials, labels, or verbal warnings. 

When sharing or discussing content that is sensitive, members of the TSF community are expected to inform others that what they are sharing may be sensitive content. The following topics are examples of sensitive content:

  • Adult sexual content
  • Animal cruelty or abuse
  • Blood
  • Child abuse
  • Death and dying
  • Drug or other substance abuse
  • Excessive violence or gore
  • Incest
  • Mental illness
  • Miscarriages or abortion
  • Needles
  • Physical, mental, emotional, verbal, and/or sexual abuse
  • Pregnancy or childbirth
  • Self-harm behavior, including disordered eating
  • Sexual assault
  • Suicide or suicidal ideation

Compliance with laws and ethics

Members of the TSF community should not engage in illegal or unethical behavior. They should comply with all applicable laws and regulations when engaging in TSF events, activities, and spaces. Compliance with applicable laws and ethics is the responsibility of the individual. 

Antitrust 

TSF does not play a role in the competitive decisions of its community members. TSF does not attempt to influence the trust and safety policies or operations of its supporters, nor does it force supporters or individual trust and safety professionals to adhere to uniform positions or standards espoused by TSF. Moreover, TSF does not encourage partners, stakeholders, or those engaging with TSF to collude or encourage any particular set of business practices.

Security and Encryption

TSF’s communication platforms (including but not limited to email, Slack, website, Google Workspace, Discord) may not support end-to-end encryption. Community members should not share documents or information that require end-to-end encryption through TSF’s communication platforms. 

Illegal content or behavior is prohibited on TSF’s communication platforms and workspaces. Although there may be times when TSF members may discuss illegal content (e.g., CSAM), it is imperative that the content itself stays out of TSF channels.

Employer Compliance and Guidelines

TSF doesn’t have insight into codes of conduct or other compliance requirements set out by community members’ employers or professions. Community members are responsible for making sure that they never engage in activity that could put their employer or employment at risk. 

  • Read, understand, and comply with your employer’s antitrust policy, data use policies, and privacy policies.
  • Do not reveal or exchange information that violates your terms of employment, such as sharing trade secrets or internal-only documentation that hasn’t been approved for circulation.