Microsoft acquires content-moderation specialist Two Hat | ZDNet

Microsoft has purchased Two Hat, a content-moderation company with which it has worked in the past to moderate Xbox community content, for an undisclosed amount. Microsoft and Two Hat also have worked together to moderate Minecraft and MSN content, as well, according to Microsoft’s October 29 blog post about the Two Hat acquisition.

Microsoft officials framed the acquisition as being about communities. Microsoft has talked up its interest in communities when discussing recent (and recently rumored but not completed) acquisitions including Mojang/Minecraft (check), GitHub (done), TikTok (nope), Pinterest (also nope).

Two Hat’s AI-powered moderation technology will likely most directly affect Microsoft’s gaming platforms like Xbox and Minecraft. But it also could figure into other consumer services like MSN.

Microsoft Corporate Vice President of Xbox Product Services was quoted as saying “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.”

Two Hat was founded in 2012 and is based in Kelowna, British Columbia. Two Hat has partnered with Xbox and Microsoft for several years, according to its blog post about the acquisition, and like Microsoft, is all about safety, inclusion and online health and wellness, Two Hat officials said.