What Digital Trust & Safety Partnership does

Digital Trust & Safety Partnership (DTSP) is a 501c(6) non-profit membership organization founded in April 2020 (publicly launched February 2021) that develops and promotes standardized best practices for trust and safety across digital services. DTSP operates as an industry consortium with 17 enterprise members including Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft, LinkedIn, Discord, Reddit, TikTok, Pinterest, Snap, Match Group, Bumble, Twitch, Shopify, Vimeo, Bitly, and Cantina, with Indeed (April 2026) and Temu (May 2026) as the most recent additions. Its core deliverable is the Safe Framework, which was decisively approved in January 2025 as ISO/IEC 25389 — the first international standard for trust and safety — making DTSP one of only 18 organizations globally approved by JTC 1 to submit publicly available specifications for ISO/IEC standardization.

DTSP's product portfolio centers on standards, frameworks, and assessment methodologies rather than software. Offerings include the Best Practices Framework (five overarching commitments), the Safe Framework Specification and Safe Assessments Report, plus specialized guidance documents covering Age Assurance, AI and Automation in Trust and Safety, the Trust & Safety Glossary of Terms, and Out-of-Court Dispute Settlement under the EU Digital Services Act. All frameworks and publications are distributed free of charge through dtspartnership.org, while ISO/IEC 25389 is also available through ISO channels. Technical differentiators are domain-specialization rather than proprietary technology, and the organization does not sell a software product or maintain a traditional distribution channel beyond website downloads and the ISO relationship.

Revenue is generated exclusively through membership dues organized in four tiers (Strategic, General, Associate, Affiliate), billed annually, with Strategic members entitled to designate board members and chair committees. Specific fees are not publicly disclosed. The organization is led by a small staff of 1-10 employees under founding Executive Director David Sullivan, with operational presence in Washington, D.C. DTSP engages internationally through events like the Rights & Risks Forum (co-hosted with the Global Network Initiative, attracting roughly 100-120 experts annually), an MOU with the Japan Trust & Safety Association, co-chairmanship of the WEF Global Coalition for Digital Safety, and liaison status with ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 27.

Name

Digital Trust & Safety Partnership

Legal name

Digital Trust & Safety Leadership Council

Website

https://dtspartnership.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Digital Trust & Safety Partnership (DTSP) is a 501c(6) non-profit consortium that develops the ISO/IEC 25389 international standard and best practices frameworks for digital trust and safety, serving 17+ major technology members including Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft, LinkedIn, and TikTok.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Trust & Safety Standards

NAICS

Human Rights Organizations (813311)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Risk Intelligence, Threat Monitoring & Crisis Response (Harmful trends, coordinated abuse) (BPAAALAN)

akta.pro secondary industry

Policy Operations, Appeals & Case Management (Disputes, reinstatements, escalations) (BPAAALAM)

Keywords

• Trust safety standards
• Digital safety framework
• Content moderation best practices
• Online safety governance
• AI safety standards

Headquarters

HQ city

Washington, D.C.

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Membership Dues: DTSP is a 501c(6) non-profit membership organization. Revenue is generated through membership fees from participating technology companies. The organization has four classes of membership: Strategic, General, Associate, and Affiliate. Strategic members are entitled to designate Board members and may chair committees and working groups. General members and Strategic members are entitled to vote, while Associate membership provides observer status. Affiliate membership is open to organizations whose work or research directly relates to trust and safety.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Digital Trust & Safety Partnership is a non-profit membership organization that develops and publishes trust and safety standards, frameworks, and guidance documents for digital service providers. Its core offerings include the Best Practices Framework (five overarching commitments), the Safe Framework (ISO/IEC 25389 international standard with assessment methodology), the Safe Assessments Report, and specialized guidance on Age Assurance, AI and Automation, and Out-of-Court Dispute Settlement. Membership is the primary mechanism through which companies engage with and implement DTSP's frameworks.

Product overview

The Digital Trust & Safety Partnership (DTSP) is a partnership initiative focused on promoting a safer and more trustworthy internet through industry best practices, assessment methods, and international standards. Rather than a traditional software product, DTSP offers a portfolio of frameworks and guidance documents including the core Best Practices Framework (five overarching commitments for trust and safety), the Safe Framework/ISO/IEC 25389 (international standard with maturity assessment methodology), the Safe Assessments Report (aggregated company self-assessment results), and specialized guidance on Age Assurance, AI and Automation, and Out-of-Court Dispute Settlement under the EU DSA. DTSP also provides the Trust & Safety Glossary of Terms to establish common industry vocabulary.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Best Practices Framework A framework of five overarching commitments characterizing how practicing companies address content- and conduct-related risks in product development, governance, enforcement, improvement, and transparency. Targeted at digital service providers implementing trust and safety operations.
• Safe Framework (ISO/IEC 25389) An international standard published as ISO/IEC 25389 providing guidance for organizations to reduce content- and conduct-related risks, including a methodology for assessing the maturity of digital safety practices. Targeted at organizations offering digital products and services.
• DTSP Safe Assessments Report An evaluation report synthesizing results of internal Safe Framework assessments conducted by DTSP partner companies. Inaugural report in July 2022 covered ten companies; intended for benchmarking trust and safety maturity across the industry.
• Age Assurance: Guiding Principles and Best Practices A document describing best practices for age assurance, including five guiding principles and example practices for establishing user age on digital services. Targeted at digital service providers implementing youth safety protections.
• Best Practices for AI and Automation in Trust and Safety A report describing how digital products and services use AI and automation in trust and safety, providing examples of best practices and exploring generative AI opportunities. Developed by the DTSP AI and Automation Working Group.
• Trust & Safety Glossary of Terms The first industry glossary of trust and safety terms, developed through public consultation, to support professionalization of the field, adoption of agreed interpretations of key terms, and informed dialogue between industry, policymakers, regulators, and the public.
• Out-of-Court Dispute Settlement Resources Working group outputs including position papers and case studies addressing the emerging Out-of-Court Dispute Settlement ecosystem under the EU Digital Services Act, with best practices for the dispute resolution process. Targeted at digital service providers operating in the EU.

Quantifiable outcome

• Safe Framework approved as ISO/IEC 25389 international standard in January 2025
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers19 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Japan Trust & Safety Association (JTSA)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 25 November 2025DTSP and JTSA signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to work together in support of a safer and more trustworthy digital ecosystem in Japan and across the Asia-Pacific region. Through this partnership, DTSP and JTSA will undertake joint outreach in support of international standard ISO/IEC 25389, the Safe Framework. JTSA is Japan's first cross-industry organization dedicated to advancing online trust and safety.
• Global Network Initiative (GNI)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDTSP and GNI co-organize the European Rights & Risks Stakeholder Engagement Forum. The two organizations share a commitment to protecting freedom of expression and privacy while addressing digital safety risks.
• World Economic Forum - Global Coalition for Digital SafetycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDTSP is a member of the World Economic Forum's Global Coalition for Digital Safety, serving as co-chair of the Digital Safety Risk Assessment workstream. DTSP Executive Director David Sullivan co-chairs the Coalition.
• BSRminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerBSR (Business for Social Responsibility) assisted in the development of the Best Practices for AI and Automation in Trust and Safety report. BSR is one of the inaugural affiliate members of DTSP.
• PwCminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerPwC is one of the inaugural affiliate members of DTSP, providing professional services expertise in trust and safety. PwC offers access to exclusive DTSP resources including tools and training on the Safe Framework.
• Tech LegalityminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerTech Legality is one of the inaugural affiliate members of DTSP, providing specialized expertise in technology law and trust and safety.
• ISO/IEC Joint Technical Committee 1 (JTC 1)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDTSP is one of only 18 organizations approved by JTC 1 to submit publicly available specifications for review and approval as ISO/IEC standards. The Safe Framework was approved as ISO/IEC 25389 in January 2025.
• ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 27minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerDTSP is a Category A liaison to SC 27, 'Information security, cybersecurity and privacy protection'.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves11 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Global Network Initiative (GNI): Multi-stakeholder non-profit convening tech companies, civil society, and investors on freedom of expression and privacy. DTSP co-hosts the Rights & Risks Forum with GNI and shares a closely aligned mandate on rights-respecting digital safety.
• Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT): Cross-industry non-profit founded by tech platforms to counter terrorist and violent extremist content. Operates a comparable industry-led model with overlapping members (Meta, Microsoft, Google) but focused on a narrow content vertical.
• Trust & Safety Professional Association: Membership organization supporting individual T&S practitioners via training, conferences, and resources. Comparable in serving the T&S professional community but focused on individual practitioners rather than corporate standards.
• Japan Trust & Safety Association (JTSA): Japan's first cross-industry T&S organization. Signed an MOU with DTSP in November 2025 to jointly advance ISO/IEC 25389 across Asia-Pacific — effectively a national-level counterpart.

Broad incumbents

• ActiveFence: Commercial trust and safety platform providing content moderation, fraud, and threat intelligence to platforms. Represents the commercial vendor side of the same T&S operational stack DTSP helps standardize.
• Teleperformance: Global BPO with a large trust and safety / content review practice serving major platforms. Operates at scale on the operational layer DTSP's standards govern, and competes for the same corporate T&S budgets.

Regional players

• National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC): US-based non-profit operating CyberTipline and hash-sharing infrastructure used by platforms for child-safety content moderation. A specialized standards/operations actor that complements DTSP's broader framework in one high-priority vertical.

Others

• CyberPeace Institute: Non-profit focused on cyberpeace and accountability. Shares the NGO convening model and operates in the overlapping trust, safety, and security domain, but emphasizes cyber-incident response rather than content governance.
• Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT): Non-profit policy and advocacy organization engaged on digital rights, platform governance, and content moderation regulation. Operates as civil-society counterpart shaping the regulatory environment DTSP seeks to align with.
• World Economic Forum Global Coalition for Digital Safety: Multi-stakeholder coalition addressing digital safety risks, co-chaired by DTSP's Executive Director. Functions as a higher-level convening platform on which DTSP's standards sit.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/dtspartnership
• Facebookfacebook.com/dtspartnership
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/dtspartnership

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Digital Trust & Safety Partnership