Building the World’s Most Trusted Work Marketplace

At Upwork, we know trust isn’t given; it’s earned through action, consistency, and a relentless commitment to online safety. This responsibility is at the core of how we’ve connected businesses and professionals from around the globe to work together securely for more than 20 years, and it continues to guide how we design, govern, and protect our marketplace today.

Trust is also built through transparency. That’s why we’re opening up about the work our teams do every day to keep customers safe, sharing the progress we’ve made, and where we’re focused next. Because while we’re proud of how far we’ve come, we know this work is never finished.

Powered by People, Fueled by Technology

Upwork is safeguarded 24/7 by a sophisticated ecosystem of advanced technologies, global partnerships, and a dedicated team of hundreds of trust and safety experts. From seasoned policy strategists and security engineers to frontline response teams, these experts work in tight coordination around the clock to keep the marketplace safe, fair, and secure.

Their job is to spot problems early and stop them quickly. That includes deploying the newest AI models that detect threats before they surface, conducting real-time risk scoring to stop fraud before it starts, and building systems to not just catch issues but to prevent them entirely. For example, we train our models with the goal of identifying and removing illegitimate job posts seconds after they're published—before a single freelancer ever sees them.

Every system we build is informed by years of learning, millions of signals, and the experience of people who understand how abuse happens across online platforms and how to stop it. This combination of technology and human expertise is what keeps our platform secure.

Fighting Bad Actors

Internet fraudsters are continuously deploying new and more sophisticated techniques to get around trust and safety systems. Every passing year requires better detection, faster removals, and compliance with a quickly changing legal and regulatory landscape. This isn’t unique to Upwork. Online fraud and abuse have grown into a multi-billion-dollar industry, with increasingly complex scams affecting marketplaces, payment platforms, and social networks alike.

Our dedication to staying one step ahead is driving results: Over the past two years, we've reduced the number of interactions between legitimate users and bad actors on our platform by more than 80%. Even one bad actor is one too many, but this is meaningful progress that enables freelancers and clients on the platform to focus on what matters: getting great work done together.

While our sophisticated AI-driven detections and team of security experts catch the vast majority of harmful activity, our community plays a critical role, too. When users flag suspicious messages, posts, or profiles, we take it seriously. We review 100% of user reports; no flag is ignored. While most confirm issues we’ve already caught through our own systems, additional flags help us act even faster. User reports strengthen the system and help protect the entire community.

Strengthening Quality Signals 

Though our systems now stop the vast majority of bad actors before they ever reach customers, there’s more work to be done to help ensure successful outcomes. Even when both parties have good intentions, a project can still fall short if expectations are mismatched or a skill set isn’t clearly understood. 

That’s why, beyond reducing fraud, we’re investing heavily in platform quality and strengthening the signals that help customers understand who they’re working with before a contract begins. Badges, profile metrics, and behavior-based indicators make it easier for freelancers to showcase their strengths and for clients to hire with confidence. 

For example, a client hiring for a design project might be comparing two freelancers with similar portfolios. Enhanced signals, like verified skills, consistent responsiveness, and past delivery reliability, can help that client make a faster, more confident choice. We’re also improving the signals freelancers see about potential clients, including past hiring history and project details, so they can make more informed decisions about which opportunities are the right fit.

Our ongoing goal is to help customers on both sides of our marketplace make more informed decisions before a contract begins, reducing mismatches and improving customer satisfaction and outcomes.

Maintaining Trust Through Every Interaction

We’re now entering the next phase of our work to build trust into every part of the Upwork experience. We’re prioritizing clearer and more innovative two-sided reputation signals and ways to drive better alignment once two parties are in contract together. These efforts will raise the bar across the full customer journey on Upwork so that every project starts with less guesswork and the strongest possible foundation for success.

We’ve arrived at our leading trust and safety metrics through sustained investment, thoughtful innovation, and a deep belief that trust is core infrastructure for the world’s work marketplace. The challenges will always keep changing, but so will we. We’re committed to staying one step ahead, earning trust at every turn, and to building a platform where safety, quality, and integrity are never left to chance.

For more on how we approach platform safety and policy, visit our Support Center.