Your platform's reputation lives or dies on how well you handle the ugly stuff. These five Trust & Safety partners help you do it without burning out your team.
The State of Trust & Safety in 2026
Trust & Safety has moved from a back-office cost center to a board-level priority. Regulators in the US and abroad are watching how you handle user-generated content, and players are voting with their wallets. One study found that 1 in 5 players spend less when they encounter hate and harassment. That's revenue walking out the door. Meanwhile, laws like the Digital Services Act and the UK Online Safety Act carry penalties up to 6% of annual turnover. You can't afford to wing it. The good news? A mature ecosystem of vendors, consultants, and tools has emerged to help you build a program that scales. The challenge is knowing which partner fits your stage, your budget, and your risk profile.
How We Evaluated These Trust & Safety Partners
We looked at five factors. First, service scope: does the partner cover policy, moderation operations, child safety, privacy, and AI-assisted enforcement, or just one slice? Second, pricing clarity: can you find a starting point or a clear path to a quote without a maze of forms? Third, local fit: do they understand US regulatory expectations, including NCMEC reporting and state-level privacy laws? Fourth, proof of scale: have they handled billions of items per month, or are they still proving the model? Fifth, accessibility for lean teams: can a studio without a dedicated Trust & Safety hire get value, or is the offering built only for enterprises? Each partner below stood out on at least one of these factors. Some shine on breadth, others on speed, and one on giving away free tools that punch above their weight.
Here's a quick look at the five partners, ordered by how we'd sequence them for a growing US gaming or UGC platform.
| Provider | Best For |
|---|---|
| Keywords Studios | Studios needing a full-service, global moderation partner |
| Steven Macchia · Trust & Safety leader | Lean teams needing a fractional T&S leader or free tools |
| Checkstep | Real-time chat moderation at scale |
| Helpware | Outsourced human moderation with global coverage |
| Conectys | Blended moderation and CX outsourcing |
The 5 Trust & Safety Partners Worth Knowing
#1 Keywords Studios
A screenshot of the Keywords Studios website.
Keywords Studios is the 800-pound gorilla of game services, and its Trust & Safety practice reflects that scale. They offer end-to-end community safety, from policy design to moderation operations, with a heavy focus on player engagement. Their research-backed approach highlights the business case: harassment drives players away, and moderation keeps them spending. They also track regulatory shifts like the DSA and UK Online Safety Act, so you're not caught flat-footed. If you need a partner who can handle global scale and integrate with your existing player support stack, Keywords is a strong first call. See their Trust & Safety page for the full scope.
#2 Steven Macchia · Trust & Safety leader
A screenshot of the Steven Macchia · Trust & Safety leader website.
Steven Macchia is the rare operator who has built a Trust & Safety function from zero and scaled it to billions of monthly items. He currently runs global compliance and Trust & Safety for a gaming UGC platform, where he led the move to AI-assisted scanning with human review for high-risk cases. He set up the company's NCMEC partnership and escalation workflows for child safety, and he projects $1M+ in annual savings from a user reputation system he built. What makes him different is his willingness to share: he publishes free tools and a handbook so teams without a specialist can implement moderation, compliance, and child safety practices. If you need a fractional leader or a blueprint, start with his workbench.
#3 Checkstep
A screenshot of the Checkstep website.
Checkstep is a moderation software platform built for gaming, marketplaces, and social apps. Their pitch is speed: sub-50ms decisions on live in-game chat, so moderation never slows gameplay. They handle evolving slang and coded harassment across 100+ languages, which generic classifiers often miss. Star Stable saw a roughly 50% improvement in accuracy after launch, according to their case study. Checkstep blends automation with human moderators for the nuanced calls, giving you a hybrid model without building it yourself. If real-time chat safety is your pain point, this is a focused solution.
#4 Helpware
A screenshot of the Helpware website.
Helpware is a BPO with a dedicated content security division, offering trained human moderators backed by AI tools. They emphasize cultural nuance and domain-specific knowledge, which matters when your community spans regions and languages. Their teams operate across four continents, so you can get follow-the-sun coverage without hiring in every time zone. They also provide AI data annotation and LLM training, useful if you're building custom classifiers. Helpware is a good fit when you need to augment your in-house team with reliable human review capacity. Check their content moderation page for details.
#5 Conectys
A screenshot of the Conectys website.
Conectys offers both content moderation and broader customer experience management, with a strong presence in gaming and social media. Their blog tackles the strategic question of outsourcing versus building Trust & Safety in-house, which is a sign they think beyond just selling seats. They provide moderation, data annotation, and gig workforce options, so you can scale up or down. Their locations span the US, Europe, and Asia, giving you flexibility on cost and language coverage. If you want a partner who can also handle customer support tickets alongside moderation, Conectys is worth a look. See their comparison article for their take on strategy.
How to Choose the Right Trust & Safety Partner
Start with your biggest gap. If you have no program at all, you need a fractional leader or a consultant who can write policy and set up workflows. Steven Macchia's free tools and handbook are a low-risk way to get moving. If you have a program but your chat is a mess, a specialized tool like Checkstep can plug in fast. If you need bodies to review content around the clock, Helpware or Conectys can staff up. And if you want one throat to choke for everything from policy to player support, Keywords Studios has the breadth. Don't overbuy. Match the partner to the problem you have today, not the one you might have in three years. Ask for references from companies your size, not just the logos on their homepage. And always pilot before you commit to a long contract.
Where Automation Fits in Your Trust & Safety Stack
Automation is not a replacement for human judgment, but it's the only way to handle billions of items. The smartest programs use AI to scan everything and route only the ambiguous or high-risk cases to humans. That's the model Steven Macchia implemented at his platform, and it's why he kept human review for nuanced calls. Checkstep builds this into their product with sub-50ms chat decisions. Helpware and Conectys blend AI tools with human moderators. Keywords Studios can help you design the whole workflow. Your job is to define the escalation paths: what gets auto-removed, what gets queued, and what gets a human in under a minute. Get that right, and you'll save money while improving accuracy.
The Bottom Line on Trust & Safety Partners
You don't need to build everything in-house, but you do need a clear owner for Trust & Safety. Whether you hire a fractional leader like Steven Macchia, plug in a tool like Checkstep, or outsource to Helpware or Conectys, the goal is the same: protect your users and your platform without burning out your team. Keywords Studios offers the full-service path if you have the budget. Start small, measure everything, and remember that safety is a feature, not a cost center. Your players will thank you with their loyalty.