Membership

 

Becoming a Member

Membership Experience

Integrity Institute is two things: a membership organization, and a think tank. They’re intertwined — the think tank is powered by and informed by the experience of members, and the members have a fun and intellectual culture that’s enriched by the possibility impact of the think tank.

We think of ourselves as the neighborhood cafe for integrity professionals, with a workshop attached. If, as a member, all you do is hang out at the cafe, then you’re a great member and we’re so excited to have you. At the cafe, people do talk about the work and swap tips. But they also just let their hair down and spend time together. On top of that, the workshop (the think tank) will stop by and tell you about interesting projects you might want to join, or just ask questions from time to time.

It’s crucial to note that members are here as individuals. They’re not delegates or representing their employers. This is a membership for the long haul — members remain members even if they change jobs or fields.

Lastly, we form a real community.

The Community

We are a home for integrity professionals that across a variety of companies, roles, and experience levels. As of February 2024, we are 400 Members at over 40 platforms.

Here, individual contributors and VPs are equals. So are researchers, engineers, operations staff, and more.

Here, we look out for each other. That means collaboration and kindness. It also means being empathetic, and being alert for ways to be helpful to other members. It also means speaking the truth.

As a member, you can find your people.

We’re all integrity workers here, and we can plainly talk to each other about everything from the news of the day, to ideas about how to do the job better, to cool video of wild horses we saw — safely with other people who get it.

This might look like:

  • Hang out and meet others in our virtual community space and membership hub

  • Get access to our internal members-only conversations

  • Get access to members-only conversations with fascinating non-member people

  • Get access to member meetups, both locally, and around conferences such TrustCon, T&S Research, SXSW

  • Swap leads on jobs, stories, and tips on doing the work

  • Be supported by community staff via 1-on-1 guidance and personalized onboarding

As a member, you can make an impact.

We also are here because care about the values of the work — protecting people and doing the right thing. We can make that happen at the institute.

This might look like:

  • Talk directly to people in power. From policymakers to company executives to NGOS to others.

  • Start publishing your thoughts on our blog, in op-eds, podcasts

  • Help shape or lead the production of the resources the Institute produces

  • Joining our research working groups, which are constantly spinning up.

  • Comment on proposals and ideas that policymakers, NGOs, journalists, and others ask for help with

  • Apply to be a visiting fellow. Our visiting fellowship program is only open to current Integrity Institute members. It is a part-time, project-specific fellowship that is part of small group 6-month cohort. As a visiting fellow you can:

    • Receive guided support and a staff sponsor for a project

    • Have opportunities to present on your project

    • Reimbursement for project expenses

    • Structure and focus via a small cohort

 

Membership Criteria

Membership is open to individuals who have experience doing Integrity work for a social platform. Integrity Institute welcomes applicants with at least 6 months of professional integrity experience. You also should agree to abide by our Integrity Institute Oath, Code of Conduct, and Policy on Confidentiality.

 

FAQs

  • Integrity work includes mitigating harmful content or behavior, and even hopefully making things better. This goes by many names, like anti-abuse, anti spam, responsible innovation, trust and safety, integrity, health, transparency, and so on. It involves problems like hate speech, harassment, hoaxes, scams, fake accounts, conflict, and so on. People who have or have had these kind of roles comprise our membership.

    We can try to define it definitionally: Integrity, to us, is the practice and theory of proactively and structurally governing technologically mediated content and user-to-user contact, including harm mitigation and quality control of interactions, content, and actors. We care about ecosystems, “macroeconomics” of platforms, and abuse.

    Our members are all Integrity workers, and they fit two criteria. First, they work, or worked, for companies that build or tweak platforms or protocols. Second, that work was specifically on integrity: mitigating or reducing harms on the platform, or ensuring and incentivizing better quality content and interaction.

    Learn more here: https://integrityinstitute.org/what-is-an-integrity-worker

  • People are likely eligible for membership if they have substantial (usually 6 months or more) experience doing integrity work at a social platform or product. We define platforms as digital sites that enable user-to-user interactions. This includes but is not limited to:

    • social media

    • gaming platforms

    • dating apps

    • two-sided marketplaces

  • You might be! We consider your whole career trajectory when assessing eligibility. If you have had at least 6 months of platform experience at some point in your career, you’re probably eligible to be a member. If you only have experience consulting for platforms, you unfortunately do not fit our criteria at this time. We’re happy to direct you to peer organizations that might scratch a similar itch for you, just email us!

  • Membership is currently offered at no cost and it is a long term commitment. We accept applications on a rolling basis, so there is no cycle and set duration. Membership is a choose-your-own journey experience, with a mandatory onboarding session. You’ll experience nudges from us to participate in community calls, research working groups, and more.

  • Yes, this is a community of online experts so naturally, we thrive in virtual spaces. We value in-person time though, and work to help you find members by you. Members organize IRL gatherings all the time.

 

If this sounds like a fit, apply below! It only takes 5-7 minutes to fill out.