IFTAS

What IFTAS does

IFTAS (Independent Federated Trust & Safety) is a US-incorporated 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, EIN 93-2011167, founded in 2023 and led by Jaz-Michael King with a core team of 7 supported by a global network of volunteers, contributors, developers, researchers, and trust and safety professionals. The organization provides trust and safety resources, denylists, research, and policy guidance for volunteer moderators and administrators of decentralized social platforms across the Fediverse, with named coverage of Mastodon, GoToSocial, WordPress (ActivityPub), PeerTube, and Bluesky. Its core product portfolio comprises three domain denylists (CARIAD, an observational aggregate covering roughly 50% of all Mastodon accounts; the Abandoned and Unmanaged Domain (AUD) denylist, a curated list of abandoned or spam-only domains; and the Do Not Interact (DNI) denylist, manually reviewed harmful domains), the annually published Social Web Trust & Safety Needs Assessment Report, the multi-year CSAM Roadmap (which integrates the third-party Project Arachnid Shield API, IFTAS Safer classification, and a known-hosts/hashtags program), a Community Library of guides, templates, and platform-specific moderation documentation, and supporting programs including the Social Web ISAC and Suspected Portal Kombat Accounts Tracking. IFTAS generates no commercial revenue: all tools, denylists, and reports are provided free of charge, and the organization is funded entirely through grants and donations from aligned organizations and individuals. Its go-to-market is community-led, reaching volunteer administrators and moderators through its own Mastodon, Bluesky, and LinkedIn presence, a blog, a newsletter, and direct website downloads, with denylists also distributed as default options integrated into third-party platforms including BridgyFed, Holos Discover, Newsmast, NodeBB, tags.pub, and the WordPress ActivityPub plugin.

Name

IFTAS

Legal name

IFTAS, Inc.

Website

https://about.iftas.org

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

IFTAS is a US 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2023 that provides free trust and safety resources—including domain denylists (CARIAD, AUD, DNI), the CARIAD domain observatory, the CSAM Roadmap, and an annual Needs Assessment Report—to volunteer moderators and administrators of decentralized social platforms such as Mastodon, Bluesky, GoToSocial, WordPress, and PeerTube.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Trust and Safety Software

NAICS

Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations (813)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300), Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

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

Keywords

• Trust and safety services
• Domain denylist curation
• Federated moderation tools
• Fediverse compliance support
• Content moderation research

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Grants and Donations: IFTAS is funded through grants and donations from aligned organizations and individuals. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (EIN: 93-2011167), the organization does not charge for its services or resources. All tools, guidance, and denylists are provided free of charge to the community.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

IFTAS provides trust and safety support to volunteer moderators and administrators of decentralized social platforms (Fediverse). Its primary offerings include curated domain denylists (CARIAD, AUD, DNI), the CARIAD Domain Observatory API and web platform, content-classification frameworks, moderator training resources, policy templates, the annual Social Web Trust & Safety Needs Assessment Report, and the CSAM Roadmap (including hash-matching, safer-classification, and trauma-support resources). All offerings are provided free of charge and funded through grants and donations.

Product overview

IFTAS is a non-profit organization providing trust and safety support for volunteer moderators and administrators on the decentralized social web (Fediverse). Its portfolio consists of three primary product lines: (1) domain denylist products — the CARIAD Denylist (observational aggregate of the most widely-blocked domains), the Abandoned and Unmanaged Domain (AUD) Denylist (IFTAS-curated spam and abandoned server list), and the Do Not Interact (DNI) Denylist (manually-reviewed harmful domains) — distributed as CSV files for Mastodon/ActivityPub import and via the CARIAD Domain Observatory API; (2) research publications including the annual Social Web Trust & Safety Needs Assessment Report; and (3) the CSAM Roadmap, a multi-year program providing guidance and tooling to help ESPs mitigate child sexual abuse media. IFTAS also maintains extensive community resource libraries covering moderation guides, developer guidance, personal digital safety, denylist tools, and academic research references, all freely accessible to the community.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• CARIAD: A domain observatory service that monitors domains blocked by selected Mastodon service providers, reflecting observed domain blocks affecting roughly 50% of all Mastodon accounts.
• Suspected Portal Kombat Accounts Tracking

Products and services

• IFTAS CARIAD Denylist Observational aggregate of domain blocks implemented by high-volume, well-moderated Mastodon service providers, supplemented by the IFTAS DNI list. Provides a shared knowledge base of the most widely-blocked domains on the Fediverse, covering approximately 50% of all Mastodon accounts. Available as downloadable CSV (Mastodon import format) and via the CARIAD domain observatory API.
• IFTAS Abandoned and Unmanaged Domain (AUD) Denylist Curated list of domains that are abandoned, unmanaged, or serving as dedicated spam services. Each domain undergoes a human-review investigation process before inclusion. Recommended for defederation or limited delivery (Suspend or Limit/Silence). Available as CSV for Mastodon import.
• IFTAS Do Not Interact (DNI) Denylist A manually-reviewed list of domains labelled by harm. Included in the CARIAD denylist at IFTAS severity level regardless of observed source consensus. Serves as the primary source of IFTAS's own harm-labelled domains.
• CARIAD Domain Observatory Web-based domain observatory service providing free access to the CARIAD denylist data, including threshold-based views (51%, 66%, 80%) and API access for programmatic retrieval. No payment required for use of the list or for listing/delist requests.
• Suspected Portal Kombat Accounts Tracking Tracks and monitors accounts believed to be operated by the Portal Kombat (Pravda) network — a state-sponsored pro-Russian disinformation operation creating thousands of inauthentic accounts across Mastodon and Bluesky. Includes a public list of monitored accounts and example accounts to aid server administrators in identification and removal.
• Social Web Trust & Safety Needs Assessment Report Annual report drawing on surveys and community feedback from volunteer moderators, admins, and community managers across decentralized social platforms. Provides comprehensive analysis of the trust and safety landscape, including moderator ratios, burnout rates, spam trends, regulatory challenges, and forward-looking forecasts.
• IFTAS CSAM Roadmap Multi-year initiative to help electronic service providers (ESPs) mitigate Child Sexual Abuse Media (CSAM). Includes: content moderator trauma support resources, legal and regulatory guidance, IFTAS Safer (hash-matching classification service), Shield API (Project Arachnid), 3-is service (EU-oriented), fedi-safety open source tool, known hashtag lists, known host lists, and best practice recommendations. Collaborates with NCMEC, INHOPE, Arachnid, and End Violence Against Children.
• Personal Digital Safety Resources Guidance and resources for moderators, community managers, and service administrators on protecting their personal digital safety, account security, privacy, and handling doxxing incidents. Includes recommendations for role-based accounts, two-factor authentication, and links to Access Now's free helpline for civil society.
• Information for Software Developers and Designers A curated library of resources and guidance for software developers building federated social apps. Covers user consent, user safety, policy design considerations, accountability and transparency, and account/content reporting workflows with standard harm classification taxonomy.
• Denylist Resources Library Comprehensive curated directory of domain denylists, IP address denylists, email/MX record resources, domain investigation tools, and related resources. Includes IFTAS's own denylists (DNI, AUD, CARIAD) as well as third-party resources such as Garden Fence, FediSeer, The Bad Space, Spamhaus, StopForumSpam, and more.

Quantifiable outcome

• The average moderator-to-user ratio has worsened to 1:3,500, indicating increased workload for volunteer moderators (2025 report).
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration6 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Antibot4Navalny Research TeamminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 5 October 2025IFTAS collaborated with the Antibot4Navalny research team on investigations into coordinated disinformation networks targeting the Fediverse. Antibot4Navalny observed related activity bridging to Bluesky, and the collaboration enhanced IFTAS's investigation into the Portal Kombat (Pravda) network. This is an informal research coordination relationship rather than a formal partnership.
• Mastodon Service Providers (CARIAD Sources)coreOthersHigh-volume, well-moderated Mastodon service providers contribute data to the IFTAS CARIAD denylist by sharing their domain block lists. Providers must meet eligibility criteria: 6+ months in service, demonstrable domain blocks, and not appearing on IFTAS denylists. This data aggregation is the foundation of the CARIAD observatory.
• University Middlesex London Centre of Abuse and Trauma StudiesminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerIFTAS is working with the University Middlesex London Centre of Abuse and Trauma Studies to review self-help materials and guidance for trauma mitigation resources for content moderators exposed to CSAM. This collaboration supports IFTAS's goal of minimizing harm to moderators.
• INHOPE, Arachnid, NCMEC, End Violence Against ChildrenminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerIFTAS is consulting with these child safety organizations to source and share best practices for moderation workflow enhancements to minimize harm for moderators exposed to CSAM, and to provide guidance on CSAM classification and reporting.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Hive: Commercial AI content moderation platform providing classification APIs for hate speech, spam, CSAM, and more. Comparable as a T&S tooling provider that competes for the same moderator-admin workflow that IFTAS supports, though targeting commercial platform customers.
• ActiveFence: A leading commercial trust & safety platform offering content moderation APIs, threat intelligence, and denylist products used by major platforms. Comparable as a denylist/threat-data provider to IFTAS's CARIAD/AUD/DNI offerings, but operates commercially at scale and across all platform types rather than serving the federated niche.

Others

• Internet Society: A global nonprofit promoting an open, secure, and trustworthy internet through standards, policy, and grants. Comparable as a mission-aligned nonprofit supporting the open internet, including decentralized infrastructure and trust-related initiatives relevant to IFTAS's Fediverse audience.
• Mozilla Foundation: Nonprofit steward of the open-source Firefox browser and broader open-web advocacy, including responsible AI and trustworthy tech initiatives. Comparable as a large nonprofit advancing open, user-respecting digital infrastructure with research and grants programs analogous to IFTAS's mission.
• Open Web Foundation: A nonprofit stewarding open standards and protocols relevant to the federated/open social web (e.g., ActivityPub, OStatus heritage). Comparable as a nonprofit supporting the open-web ecosystem that IFTAS's moderator community operates within.
• Open Technology Fund: A grantmaking nonprofit that funds projects advancing internet freedom, including circumvention tools and secure communications. Comparable as a nonprofit funder and steward in the open/internet-freedom ecosystem adjacent to IFTAS's decentralized-web mission.
• Wikimedia Foundation: Nonprofit operating Wikipedia and supporting free-knowledge infrastructure, including substantial trust & safety work. Comparable as a major nonprofit stewarding open-content ecosystems with substantial moderator communities and T&S needs; relevant peer for nonprofit governance and community moderation patterns.
• Center for Humane Technology: A nonprofit focused on the societal impact of digital technology, producing research, advocacy, and educational resources. Comparable as a mission-driven nonprofit shaping trust & safety discourse; differs from IFTAS by focusing on policy/awareness rather than operational tooling for moderators.

Direct peers

• ADL Center for Technology and Society: The Anti-Defamation League's tech-focused arm researches online hate, extremism, and platform accountability, including content moderation guidance. Comparable as a mission-driven organization producing T&S research and resources, though much larger and with broader platform focus than IFTAS.
• Trust & Safety Professional Association: A membership-driven, nonprofit professional association serving trust & safety practitioners globally. Directly comparable to IFTAS in mission, audience (T&S professionals), and nonprofit model; differs in being platform-agnostic rather than focused on federated platforms.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/iftas
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/iftas

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

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

Frequently asked questions about IFTAS