Originally published in GoDaddy's 2024 Sustainability Report

Trust & Safety

We strive to prevent harmful content while ensuring we operate a platform encouraging diverse ideas and open expression.

GoDaddy believes in the importance of freedom of speech, but we also recognize the importance of addressing harmful content in a manner designed to protect our community. Our trust and safety philosophy is outlined in our Trust Center, with specific policies detailed in our Universal Terms of Service (UTOS). Balancing freedom of expression with responsibility is fundamental to maintaining a trusted and secure environment.

As a provider of domain registration and hosting services, GoDaddy plays a pivotal role in the digital landscape, akin to real estate agents in the online realm. While we facilitate domain registrations, we also offer comprehensive hosting solutions, helping ensure a seamless digital presence for our clients. In instances where a domain is registered with one party but hosted elsewhere, the registry or registrar’s ability to directly modify or remove content may be limited. Nonetheless, GoDaddy is committed to proactively addressing and mitigating the potential negative impacts of digital technology misuse. Our dedication to fostering a secure and open internet is reflected in our ongoing efforts to promote sustainable and responsible digital practices.

Universal Terms of Service

GoDaddy’s UTOS set forth the terms and conditions governing the use of our sites, products, and services globally. It’s a violation of our UTOS to use our services to promote, encourage, or engage in violence or for any illegal activity, including, but not limited to the exploitation of children, the promotion of terrorism, the distribution of non-consensual intimate imagery (NCII), the sale of prescription medicine without a valid prescription, and fraudulent activity. We address new challenges by annually stress-testing and reviewing our trust and safety policies.

To earn the trust of our stakeholders, we take complaints and feedback seriously while building better products and services. Our Trust and Safety Team has dedicated processes to review submitted content complaints for possible violations of our UTOS or other content safety policies. If the team identifies a violation, it determines an appropriate response, which may include account suspension or termination, or other actions as needed.

• 20,500: Our Content Safety Team processed nearly 20,500 complaint cases with a time to resolve the complaint of 62 hours, on average.

SUPPORTING EMPLOYEE WELLBEING

We understand the nature of trust and safety work can take a toll on the mental wellbeing of our teams, so we introduced the Light Switch Protocol (LSP) with the aim of limiting sensitive conversations to those that understand the implications and have expressly opted in.

Conversations regarding explicit abuse including topics like child sex abuse material, NCII, hate speech, and terrorism, carry a weight that affects everyone regardless of whether exposure is direct or indirect. The LSP dictates how and what information can be shared in conversations. When the LSP is ‘On,’ this indicates members are willing or authorized to review content, whereas when the LSP is ‘Off,’ this indicates members can only have general conversations using relevant high-level language.

The LSP must be followed in any open conversation, including presentations, meetings, and email correspondence, and during other activities where explicit abuse is discussed, to ensure harm is not caused to those involved. The LSP simplifies the decision framework to ensure employees can have critical conversations on harmful content while protecting their wellbeing.

Collaboration for Internet Safety

GoDaddy participates in several industry groups to help create safer and more sustainable digital spaces. GoDaddy is a part of the Tech Coalition, a group of global tech companies working to promote child safety online through collaboration, innovation, and shared expertise. In 2024, GoDaddy played a key role in developing Tech Coalition Member Resources, including the Financial Sextortion Prevention Toolkit. To share this knowledge, in 2024 we mentored a smaller technology company to assist them in building their own child safety team.

GoDaddy regularly attends and participates in the i2Coalition’s Tech Policy Briefings and Cybersecurity and Privacy Working Group. Additionally, the i2Coalition, with assistance from GoDaddy as a founding member, helped develop the Secure Hosting Alliance group (SHA) which is geared towards hosting providers to help shape a more secure, transparent, and resilient web hosting industry. Through the SHA, we are working to build a trusted hosting environment and collaborate with leading providers to set industry standards that matter to customers and strengthen hosting company anti-abuse capabilities and reduce operating costs. The SHA participates in discussions that help to shape industry practices and legislative efforts.

To learn more, read our 2024 Sustainability Report.

About This Report

This GoDaddy 2024 Sustainability Report details our progress toward our corporate sustainability goals, strategies, and initiatives in support of our overarching corporate mission and values. Unless otherwise noted, this report reflects our corporate sustainability performance across our global operations covering the fiscal year period from January 1 to December 31, 2024. To demonstrate our commitment to transparent communication regarding our sustainability progress, we routinely share updates through our website and our annual Sustainability Report. We welcome your questions, comments, and feedback on this report by contacting ESG@GoDaddy.com.

This report references the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards, includes select Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) metrics for the Internet Media and Services sector, and the Task Force on Climate Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). We also disclose our contributions and progress toward priority UN SDGs. For additional information on how we align with these frameworks and key indicators demonstrating our sustainability performance, please refer to the Frameworks & Metrics section.