Shane Britten, founder of Social Protect, is on a mission to improve online safety for content creators through automated comment moderation technology. Founded in January 2021 in Australia, Social Protect offers protection against abusive content across multiple social platforms through real-time removal of harmful comments.

“We’ve created an antivirus for social media,” explains Shane. “Our premise is simple: stop talking about it and give people tools they can actually use.”

Social Protect emerged from a deeply personal catalyst. “My career changed when a close family member attempted suicide after severe cyberbullying,” Shane reveals. “It’s far too common. Everyone has either been affected or knows someone who has.”

This tragedy, combined with professional experience working with the Australian rugby team during a social media incident involving a player posting controversial content, highlighted a critical need in the digital space. Seeing no adequate solutions from governments or tech platforms, Shane recognized an opportunity to create a practical tool to address online harassment.

“There was a clear gap in the market,” Shane says. The technical complexity of connecting with social media platforms and the challenge of balancing protection with privacy made this a space few were willing to enter.

Technical Infrastructure Supporting Creator Safety

Social Protect connects to social media platforms through their Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), which Shane describes as “technical hooks” that allow third-party solutions to interact with the platforms without requiring users to share passwords.

“We use two hooks on each platform: collect public comments so we can review them, and delete those that match our criteria,” Shane explains.

The system maintains a library of approximately two million abusive terms across 100 languages. When a comment matching these terms appears on a creator’s content, it is removed in under a second. This happens without the creator needing to manually moderate comments, freeing them to focus on content creation and audience engagement.

The platform currently integrates with Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Discord, YouTube, and X, though with varying levels of access. This multi-platform approach addresses a key limitation of native moderation tools, which require creators to configure separate settings for each platform they use.

Serving the Creator Economy’s Needs

For professional content creators, managing abusive comments presents both a mental health challenge and a business problem. As Shane points out, many creators and their teams spend a significant amount of time manually moderating comments, rather than engaging with their audience or developing new content.

“If influencers or their teams spend all their time deleting horrible stuff, they’re not growing, engaging new communities, or sharing their message,” he says.

Social Protect tackles this by automating the moderation process while giving creators complete control over what terms are filtered. This customization acknowledges the diverse needs of various creator types, ranging from musicians who may use stronger language as part of their artistic expression to family-friendly influencers who maintain stricter content standards.

“A rapper’s language requirements differ from a mum’s group influencer,” Shane notes. “Rap may naturally include harsher language, but there are still terms they won’t, and shouldn’t, accept.”

This detailed control extends to the ability for users to add their own custom keywords, in addition to Social Protect’s library. The platform regularly reviews these user additions to identify new terms that should be added to the global database, particularly regional slang or language variations.

Business Model Built for Accessibility and Growth

Social Protect operates on a tiered model designed to ensure accessibility while supporting commercial viability:

“There are three levels,” Shane explains. “At its core is a mobile app – the remote control for the service. And we made a determined decision: as long as I own the company, the app will always be free.”

The free version allows anyone to connect one social media account without requiring a credit card, ensuring that young people experiencing cyberbullying can access protection without financial barriers.

For those requiring additional features, Social Protect Premium costs approximately US$3 per month, unlocking the ability to connect multiple accounts and access advanced AI tools.

The Pro version caters to professional creators, sports teams, and public figures with larger followings. It includes an administrative dashboard with real-time statistics and dedicated support from Shane’s team, including threat management services in the event of severe situations.

“Pro is for influencers, celebrities, athletes; high-profile people with monetized roles on social media,” Shane says.

Social Protect typically recommends users upgrade to Pro when they reach approximately 5,000 followers, as the data processing demands begin to exceed what the premium tier can support. However, Shane emphasizes their commitment to supporting creators in crisis regardless of their financial situation: “If someone says, ‘I’m getting a hard time online, I need help, and I can’t pay,’ we’ll give them a license.”

Measuring Impact on Creator Engagement

Contrary to concerns that removing comments might hurt engagement metrics, Social Protect has documented the opposite effect. “Engagement goes up,” Shane reports. “On average, a 21% increase.”

The theory behind this improvement is that toxic comment sections discourage broader audience participation. When casual followers see abusive language, they’re less likely to engage for fear of becoming targets themselves.

“If it’s toxic, people are reluctant to comment. If it’s positive, neutral, or even critical, but not toxic, people will engage,” Shane explains.

He shares statistics showing how the scale of Social Protect’s impact continues to grow. “In 2024, we deleted 1.17 million comments. We thought that was huge. In the last 30 days, we’ve removed 800,000,” Shane says, indicating the company is on track to block approximately 10 million toxic comments in 2025.

Working Within Platform Limitations

A significant challenge for Social Protect has been the varied technical access provided by different social platforms. While most major networks offer workable APIs, some platforms like Snapchat don’t provide the necessary technical hooks for automated moderation.

“Snapchat doesn’t have an API, so we can’t protect people there,” Shane explains. To address these gaps, Social Protect has developed an Education Hub within its app that guides users through platform-specific privacy settings and other online safety education.

“Inside our app, we’ve created a hub with tools, training, and walkthroughs: how to adjust Snapchat privacy settings, how the online platforms work, how to keep data safe,” Shane says.

The most notable limitation comes from X, which imposes considerable fees for API access. “X charges a very significant amount to access its API,” Shane reveals. “The access we need starts at $42,000 a month.” This expense means X protection is only available to clients who are willing to cover the additional costs.

Real-World Impact for Creators

During the Paris Olympics, an Australian breakdancer nicknamed Raygun [Rachael Gunn] went viral and experienced both massive follower growth and intense harassment. “She received thousands of hateful messages after her performance,” Shane recounts. “Including heinous death threats, some of the most abhorrent behavior we’ve seen.”

While the Olympic Committee had provided monitoring tools that simply reported abuse levels, Social Protect offered actual removal of the harmful content. “She was told to report the comments,” Shane says. “But with thousands of comments, it would take a long time to report them all, and she would have to wait for the platform to do something about it. That’s not practical, and there’s no guarantee the platform would actually remove the hatred.”

After connecting her accounts to Social Protect, Raygun and her fans were no longer exposed to the hatred. “She told us she could live her life again,” Shane says.

This case exemplifies how Social Protect helps creators maintain their digital presence during viral moments or controversies without sacrificing their mental well-being.

The Balance Between Freedom and Safety

Social Protect addresses concerns about overreach by putting moderation decisions entirely in users’ hands. Creators can add or remove filtered keywords, adjust AI sensitivity, and determine their own boundaries.

“It’s not up to us to decide what people should see,” Shane emphasizes. “We give them the tool, and it’s their choice.”

Shane compares this approach to property rights: “Your front yard is your space. You can put up a billboard if you choose. But if your neighbor puts one in your yard, you can take it down.”

This empowerment-focused approach has proven particularly important when working with creators who value freedom of expression. Social Protect emphasizes that users aren’t preventing others from expressing views; they’re simply establishing boundaries for their own digital spaces.

“Your account is your front yard. You control what’s said there. Others can say what they want on their page, just not on yours,” Shane explains.

A Vision for Creator Protection

Shane envisions Social Protect becoming a standard protective measure for all social media users, much like antivirus software is considered essential for email security.

“I’d like to see access become default,” he says. “We’ve committed to keeping the tool free, so why not have it installed on phones or offered by carriers? That way, even people who’ve never heard of us can stay safe.”

For the creator economy specifically, Shane sees an opportunity to partner directly with influencers to raise awareness about digital safety tools. “I’d like us to work with influencers who are spreading word about what’s helpful and what’s not.”

Shane believes influencers are well-positioned to promote safety tools based on their own experiences with online abuse. “It’s hard to find an influencer who hasn’t faced toxic abuse,” Shane observes. “When they say there’s a solution, it’s genuine.”

By equipping creators with effective protection tools, Social Protect aims to transform social media from a potential liability back into the powerful community-building asset it was designed to be, allowing creators to focus on content and connection rather than comment moderation.

“Social media is amazing,” Shane concludes. “It lets people connect and build communities in new ways. But it needs guardrails and safety mechanisms and that’s what we provide. The positive without the negative.”

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