Brand Safety on Social Media in 2025

How to Navigate the New Normal in Content Moderation

Report by Paul Verna  | UPDATED: Apr 19, 2025
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Table of Contents
Executive Summary
What’s the new normal in social media brand safety and content moderation?
Political realignments have accelerated changes in brand safety practices
Even outside social media, recent events have reshaped the brand safety landscape
Changing attitudes toward brand safety could mean fewer constraints for creators and their brand partners
Implications for brands, agencies, and social media platforms
Sources
Media Gallery
About This Report
The 2024 US presidential election ushered in a new normal in brand safety, with prominent social media companies such as X and Meta shifting the burden of content moderation from internal teams and contractors to users.
Topics
Digital Ad Spending
Media Buying
United States
Table of Contents
Executive Summary
What’s the new normal in social media brand safety and content moderation?
Political realignments have accelerated changes in brand safety practices
Even outside social media, recent events have reshaped the brand safety landscape
Changing attitudes toward brand safety could mean fewer constraints for creators and their brand partners
Implications for brands, agencies, and social media platforms
Sources
Media Gallery

The 2024 US presidential election marked a before and after in how social media companies police content and promote brand safety on their platforms.

Some of the most prominent social media companies—including X, Meta, YouTube, and TikTok—are relying on their users to flag violative and potentially misleading content. While those and other platforms continue to use moderation teams and automated systems, community-based efforts are becoming the norm for lower-severity violations.

These changes have profound implications for brand marketers, agencies, and social platforms themselves.

Key Question: What are the implications of major social media companies abandoning platform-led content moderation in favor of community-based efforts?

Many Social Platforms Have Adopted User-Led Content Moderation Programs (platforms along the spectrum of community-led to platform-led moderation, 2025)
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Key Stat: Several social media companies have shifted emphasis from in-house content moderation to user-based efforts, at least for content that doesn’t explicitly violate their community standards. This shift marks a new era in brand safety.

This report can help you:

  • Develop media strategy and allocate budgets for campaigns (brands, agencies)
  • Develop go-to-market strategy (media platforms)

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Table of Contents

  1. Executive Summary
  2. What’s the new normal in social media brand safety and content moderation?
  3. Political realignments have accelerated changes in brand safety practices
  1. Even outside social media, recent events have reshaped the brand safety landscape
  2. Changing attitudes toward brand safety could mean fewer constraints for creators and their brand partners
  3. Implications for brands, agencies, and social media platforms
  1. Sources
  2. Media Gallery

Charts in This Report

Many Social Platforms Have Adopted User-Led Content Moderation Programs (platforms along the spectrum of community-led to platform-led moderation, 2025)US Marketers Feel Social Media Presents the Biggest Brand Safety Challenge (% of US marketing professionals, Sep 2024)
Brand Safety Objectives Are of Limited Importance to US Agency Professionals (US media agency professionals ranking the importance of YouTube campaign objectives, Nov 2024)US Sponsored Content Spending Will Top $10 Billion in 2025, Earlier Than We Previously Predicted (billions in US sponsored content spending, current vs. previous forecast, 2021-2025)

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First Published on Apr 16, 2025

authors

Paul Verna

Contributors

Rahul Chadha
Director, Report Editing
Vladimir de Leon
Chart Editor
Jasmine Enberg
Vice President and Principal Analyst
Chris Keating
Evelyn Mitchell-Wolf
Senior Analyst, Digital Advertising & Media
Emma Noyes
Graphic Designer, Data Visualization
Naomi Rebuelta
Copy Editor
Tracy Tang
Senior Researcher