• Safety Tech providers are highly concentrated in the UK and US but new regions emerging in line with international market growth

• Hate speech, violent and graphic content alongside mis/disinformation are most prominent target areas globally addressed by Safety Tech solutions 

‍27th October 2022 - LONDON - The rapidly changing online safety landscape across legislation, technological developments, investment, and public awareness is ushering in the global growth of the Safety Tech market internationally with 364 providers now identified, according to research released today by PUBLIC and the Online Safety Tech Industry Association (OSTIA). 

In the first ‘International State of Safety Tech’ report undertaken, the findings reveal that over 64% of the Safety Tech market is being driven primarily by the US and UK (34% and 30% respectively). New research shows that Canada, Germany, France, Israel and Ireland, are fast becoming home to emerging Safety Tech markets. The report showed notably, most providers operate in countries outside of their company headquarters, indicating that online harms are a cross-border challenge despite government interventions tending to largely focus on the national level. 

The research found that across the international providers identified, the most prominent online harms addressed included hate speech (20%), followed by violent and graphic content (18%), and disinformation (17%). The breakdown suggests that although Safety Tech providers jointly experience global trends, domestic factors including government legislation, investor interest, and public perception result in differences in priority approaches and issue areas. 

With an increasing number of countries looking to regulate online safety, the report also finds that regulatory divergence between a system-led and harm-led approach is having an impact on the clarity of market signals to Safety Tech providers for long-term product development. Among its key findings, the report uncovered Safety Tech providers globally face a number of common challenges, including barriers to data availability, a lack of standardised approaches to classify online harms in the form of taxonomies, and limited awareness from government and law enforcement of available Safety Tech products and services. 

As part of the research, the report outlines five key recommendations to foster the further growth of the global Safety Tech market: 

1. International governments should partner to invest jointly in Safety Tech solutions targeting common areas of concerns to tackle the limited collaboration between the Safety Tech and the public sector, alongside the borderless nature of online harms. 
2. Safety Tech providers should develop and conduct government and law enforcement training for more effective use of Safety Tech capabilities and intervention opportunities. 
3. An international Safety Tech Alliance should be established, bringing together Safety Tech providers and other ecosystem partners in online safety. 
4. Given the complexity and diversity of online safety regulatory environments, regional and local Safety Tech working groups should be established to foster cooperation and innovation. 
5. Investors should develop a Safety Tech investor guide to communicate investment opportunities.

Read the report here.