The internet is full of wonderful things that brings people together in ever-changing and positive ways - but it can also be a dangerous place. How do we reconcile these two things? By working to increase the good in the internet, and reduce the bad.
That might sound obvious, but for Fandom that means trying to moderate thousands of communities over several sites, without getting in the way of your freedom to create and build.
One part of this is our Trust and Safety Team. There are four of us. Me, Jenny, Dylan and our fearless leader Tim. We work alongside other staff in keeping Fandom a safe and healthy place to be. We are helped by other members of our Community team, along with other key problem solvers such as the Fandom Support Team (including Kirkburn and Kimberton). Of course, we need you to do your part too. Remembering to keep private information private is a good start. So is learning to ignore trolls and bullies. And always remember, you can contact Fandom with any questions or concerns.
One thing our team does regularly is chat with Trust & Safety teams at other companies, sharing ideas and learning what is working well at other places in the tech industry. One idea that is becoming more and more of an industry standard practice (particularly at larger companies), is something called a “transparency report”.
Generally, a transparency report is where a company publicly discloses what sensitive actions it has taken in order to keep a platform safe for its users. What those actions are varies by what the company does, but for example, that report may talk about the amount of content removed, explanations as to what policies content was in violation of, requests for help from government agencies, and/or spambots detected on the network. One example of a comprehensive transparency report we’ve learned a lot from is TikTok’s transparency report released every quarter.
Today, Fandom is publishing our first ever transparency report. This report covers our Trust & Safety actions for the 2023 calendar year and comes with data that you wouldn't usually see. That includes everything from the number of JavaScript submissions we reject, to the number of wikis we close - including the number of duplicate and spam wikis closed by the volunteers of SOAP.
You will find the report here: https://www.fandom.com/fandom-transparency-report-2023
We are doing this to open up on some of the background work that happens on Fandom. In an ideal world you would barely know we are around! But we want to be there when we are needed, and a transparency report is part of letting you know what we do and where we do it.
I hope you find it insightful and we welcome your questions.
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