Investors and venture capitalists have a significant role in promoting user safety in online platforms and products. The eSafety Investment Checklist serves as a vital resource, offering a 12-point criteria guide for investors to ensure user safety when considering investments in tech companies. This checklist aids in managing risks, mitigating reputational and financial costs associated with online harm, and promotes responsible investing with a focus on user safety.

The document underscores the crucial role that investors and venture capitalists play in fostering user safety during the early stages of new online platforms or services. It emphasises the importance of managing online risks from the outset, helping to avoid substantial financial and reputational costs that may arise if harm occurs later in the development process. The guide recommends the application of Safety by Design principles and advocates using the Investment Checklist to ensure the safety of online platforms and services.

Safety by Design principles, developed by eSafety, prioritise the safety and rights of users throughout the design, development, and use of online products and services. These principles revolve around service provider responsibilities, user empowerment and autonomy, and transparency and accountability. They provide actionable recommendations to create safer online platforms and services, encouraging start-ups and tech companies to take preventive measures in their design and service provision to avoid reputational damage and regulatory challenges.

The Investment Checklist, comprising a 12-point criteria, helps investors assess and manage risks associated with online harm, including reputation damage, brand values, and undefined safety concerns. The guide prompts investors to ask critical questions regarding a company’s mission statement, team responsibility for user safety, visibility of terms of service, safety review procedures, behavior moderation, detection of illegal conduct, notification processes for illegal activity, breach response systems, user empowerment tools, reporting systems, safety policy communication, and public sharing of user safety information.

The document concludes with a recommendation for investors to leverage eSafety’s Investment Checklist and Safety by Design principles to foster safer technology ecosystems through responsible investing. As the technology ecosystem expands, regulations and instructions for adopting safe practices are likely to increase.