London, UK — January 27, 2026

Checkstep, the AI content moderation platform for Trust & Safety, and Illuminate Tech, the creators of OSCAR, an online safety risk-management platform, today announced a strategic partnership to help online platforms meet growing regulatory expectations in the UK, EU, and other jurisdictions.

As regulations such as the UK Online Safety Act and the EU Digital Services Act (DSA) bring obligations around risk assessment, content governance, and accountability, online services face mounting pressure to demonstrate how their Trust & Safety decisions actively reduce harm. The Checkstep and Illuminate Tech partnership directly addresses this challenge by connecting Trust & Safety operations with regulatory compliance in a single, joined-up approach.

The partnership brings together Checkstep’s AI content moderation tooling with OSCAR, Illuminate Tech’s online safety risk-management software, enabling platforms to better navigate complex online safety obligations across jurisdictions.


Bridging the gap between Trust & Safety operations and regulatory compliance

Traditionally, Trust & Safety operations and regulatory compliance have been managed as separate functions, often resulting in duplicated effort, fragmented reporting, and retroactive compliance work. Checkstep and Illuminate Tech aim to change this model.

By integrating real operational data - including moderation decisions, enforcement actions, and policy implementation - with structured regulatory risk assessments and compliance workflows, platforms can demonstrate that their Trust & Safety operations are compliant by design, not retrofitted to meet regulatory scrutiny. 

This approach supports services in meeting core regulatory requirements under UK and EU law, including risk assessment, mitigation, transparency, and governance obligations. 

"While at Ofcom during the development of the UK’s Online Safety Act, we were conscious that regulatory compliance could draw resources away from already overstretched Trust & Safety teams. That’s why we built OSCAR - to make compliance integrate seamlessly with operations - and to support, rather than distract from, the work internal teams are already doing to keep their users safe. Our partnership with Checkstep allows us to put this vision into practice."

George Billinge, Founder, Illuminate Tech.

“Faced with overlapping compliance obligations across the UK and EU, Trust & Safety teams often struggle to explain how their operational decisions reduce risk in practice. This partnership gives teams confidence that their actions stand up to regulatory scrutiny.”


Practical benefits for Trust & Safety teams

For lean and agile Trust & Safety teams the partnership delivers clear benefits, including:

  • Clear visibility of UK and EU regulatory risk grounded in real Trust & Safety data
  • Compliance embedded into day-to-day Trust & Safety operations, reducing the burden of after-the-fact reporting
  • Elimination of duplication across moderation, policy, and compliance workstreams
  • Increased confidence engaging with regulators, auditors, and senior stakeholders, supported by evidence-based insights

Guillaume Bouchard, CEO of Checkstep, commented: 

"The UK Online Safety Act and the EU Digital Services Act mark a fundamental shift in how online safety is regulated. Platforms are now expected not only to act, but to evidence how they reduce harm and manage risk. By partnering with Illuminate Tech, we are enabling platforms to directly connect their moderation and enforcement workflows to regulatory outcomes.”

Guillaume Bouchard, CEO, Checkstep


Supporting regulatory readiness

Checkstep and Illuminate Tech are offering an interactive online safety readiness assessment. The assessment helps services understand which UK and EU online safety regulations apply to their platform, based on factors such as service type, user base, and functionality.

The assessment provides an initial view of relevant regulatory obligations and risk areas, helping teams prioritise next steps with greater clarity and confidence.

Take the interactive online safety readiness assessment today to understand your regulatory obligations.

 

Take the assessment


 

About Checkstep
Checkstep is the trusted AI content moderation software that helps global platforms detect harmful content, enforce policies, and stay compliant at scale. It combines powerful automation with human expertise to deliver safe, relevant, and compliant digital experiences. With expertise in managing user-generated content and ensuring compliance with the European Union’s Digital Services Act, Checkstep partners with trust and safety teams  across multiple industries to create safer online environments.

About Illuminate Tech
Formed by ex- online safety regulators, Illuminate Tech builds tools that help online platforms manage their online safety obligations. OSCAR, their first-of-its-kind online safety compliance platform, helps teams quantify risk, improve internal governance, identify best-practice measures and monitor the effectiveness of their T&S operations.