Modulate

In just one month, Ofcom is slated to publish the #OnlineSafetyAct content risk assessment guidance and the first version of illegal harms codes of practice, requiring in-scope companies to report on risk assessment and mitigation measures 😱 Join us for another episode of Prosocial Hour hosted by Modulate! This month, CEO & Co-founder Mike Pappas is joined by Kieran Donovan, CEO & Co-founder of k-ID, to chat about the UK's OSA: • The OSA's current impact and any tangible improvements to online safety.  • The immediate and long-term impact we expect in the gaming sector and beyond when it comes to the soon-to-be-released Ofcom guidance. • How platform leaders should prepare themselves and their teams to meet compliance requirements of the OSA.  • What impact might the OSA have on other countries' online safety regulation.

Congrats to our friends at Rec Room for their expansion onto Nintendo Switch consoles! Rec Room is coming to Switch™ November 6th! https://bit.ly/4fQ5pUT

The November Trust & Safety Lately newsletter is comin' at ya a little early here on LinkedIn. Something about an #election coming up... Here's a preview of what we've got in this issue: ✅ X Pushes Political Content  ☢️ Anti-toxicity in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 💃🏽 ByteDance Turns to AI for Moderation 💬 Ofcom: "Enough talk!" Activision | ByteDance | TikTok | Ofcom | X

Thanks to Boston Business Journal for the honor of being included in your #40under40 list - and for the truly unique questions that allowed me to share my story. I've benefited by so many wonderful members of the Boston community and it's humbling to be included alongside such incredible people. And just in time for 🎃 Halloween 🎃, this was also a chance to reveal my favorite candy - Mounds. Which I've been told by many people in my life is a problematic choice, but hey, I gotta be me. What's the unusual candy preference that reveals something about who you are? https://lnkd.in/eKuCs_Ey

We had a fantastic discussion with Yasmin Hussain, Head of Trust & Safety at Rec Room, and Imran Khan on the evolving landscape of voice moderation in online gaming! 🎮 From ensuring player-to-player interactions remain positive to addressing the unique challenges of VR, our fireside chat provided valuable insights for building safer, more inclusive and long-lasting online and gaming communities. Voice chat is essential for immersive gameplay, but unmoderated conversations can quickly turn toxic. Platforms need to invest in a user safety strategy that ensures longterm player engagement. Thanks to Yasmin H., Mark F., and Imran Khan (VentureBeat) for the opportunity! #VoiceModeration #OnlineSafety #TrustAndSafety

This past month, the HBS Gaming & Game Industry Club had the privilege of visiting Modulate 🎮 Modulate is a cutting-edge company shaping the future of voice technology in gaming. From real-time voice skins to AI-driven moderation, their innovations are pushing the boundaries of how players connect and communicate in virtual worlds. A big thank you to the Modulate team - Mark Nolan Nathan Crafts Hank Howie 🔜 GamesBeat NEXT Ken M. and Amanda Y. - for giving us a behind-the-scenes look at the impact of voice tech on creating safer, more immersive gaming experiences. Excited to see how this technology and team will continue transforming the industry! #HBS #Gaming #VoiceTech #Innovation #GameIndustry #Modulate #FutureOfGaming #Startups

To build or to buy? That is the question! Join us for our first episode of the Prosocial Hour, where we're hosting a conversation between CEO & Co-founder Mike Pappas and Senior Game Engines Engineer Guy Elsmore-Paddock on the age-old question: Build vs. Buy? When it comes to protecting your online platform users from harassment, toxicity, and other harms, content moderation is one important piece of the #TrustAndSafety puzzle, but should you build your own moderation system or lean on a vendor's expertise? Prosocial Hour is an hour-ish long conversation between Modulate experts and our friends in tech, gaming, online safety, regulation, and more. Tune in and see you soon!

We're expanding ToxMod's impact beyond just games! We originally created ToxMod to make online gaming spaces safer, and with success in games and platforms like Call of Duty, Rec Room, and more, we've seen the positive impact that proactive voice moderation can have for a community's health and safety. From ride share and delivery to social and online dating platforms anywhere you use your voice to communicate, we want to help to make those interactions safer. We've cooked up new features like integrated text moderation for a truly all-in-one moderation solution and prosocial behavior detection -- after all, improving online spaces doesn't stop at just finding the "bad;" we should also find and encourage the "good!" In addition to ToxMod's powerful voice safety capabilities, we've also added phone number masking to help guard delivery drivers' privacy through a feature we call Confidential Connect.  Check out our full announcement: https://bit.ly/4f5FrMt

We're heading to GamesBeat Next! Join us at #GBNext in San Francisco, October 28-29, for a conversation between Yasmin Hussain, Head of Trust & Safety at Rec Room, and Mark F., Director of Account Management at Modulate, on using voice moderation technology and strategy to create safer online spaces. Register here: https://bit.ly/4h36idZ

We're thrilled to share the latest updates on player safety and anti-toxicity in Call of Duty ahead of the highly anticipated launch of Black Ops 6 in just a few weeks! A few highlights on the voice moderation side: 📉Since rolling out an improved voice chat enforcement in June 2024, Call of Duty has seen a combined 67% reduction in repeat offenders of voice-chat based offenses in Modern Warfare III and Call of Duty: Warzone. 🤝In July 2024, 80% of players that were issued a voice chat enforcement since launch did not re-offend. 👂🏽Exposure to disruptive voice chat continues to fall, dropping by 43% since January 2024. Read the full update from Activision & Call of Duty to learn more about how their Disruptive Behavior team is taking the lead on combatting toxicity in games: https://bit.ly/4eRlOYy