Microsoft acquires Two Hat, a leading content moderation solution provider

Microsoft today announced the acquisition of Two Hat, a leading content moderation solution provider that offers protection measures for online communities.

As part of this acquisition, Microsoft and Two Hat will combine technology, research capabilities, highly skilled teams and the most complete cloud infrastructure to serve Two Hat’s existing customers, prospective new customers and multiple product and service experiences including Xbox at Microsoft. Through this acquisition, Microsoft will help global online communities to be safer and inclusive for everyone to participate, positively contribute and thrive.

Dave McCarthy, Corporate Vice President, Xbox Product Services, commented the following regarding the acquisition:

At Microsoft, we believe that gaming should be inclusive and welcoming for everyone. For the past few years, Microsoft and Two Hat have worked together to implement proactive moderation technology into gaming and non-gaming experiences to detect and remove harmful content before it ever reaches members of our communities. For example, Two Hat’s technology has helped to make global communities in Xbox, Minecraft and MSN safer for users. This is thanks to its highly configurable technology, which allows the user to decide what they are comfortable with and what they aren’t. I’ve witnessed the impact they’ve had within Xbox, and we are thrilled that this acquisition will further accelerate our first-party content moderation solutions across gaming, within a broad range of Microsoft consumer services, and to build greater opportunity for our third-party partners and Two Hat’s existing clients’ use of these solutions.

Source: Microsoft