Our Story
We founded Moonshot in 2015 to build online solutions for one of the most pressing challenges facing communities around the world: terrorism.
Our experience working with governments, tech companies and communities revealed a major gap in the approach to this deadly problem. The lessons learned in addressing the underlying drivers of terrorism offline simply weren’t being applied effectively online, where extremist propagandists and recruiters continue to prey on vulnerable individuals. We knew we needed to build better tech to apply those lessons well.
Moonshot has since expanded the scope of online threats that we tackle. Today, we build technology to identify and disrupt organized crime, child sexual exploitation, and trafficking, among other forms of abuse and violence.
As a social impact business, we re-invest in research and development to further our mission, building evidence for new methodologies and regularly pushing the boundaries of our tech. Our team is also made up of some of the most impressive people we’ve ever known, expert analysts and software developers with wide-ranging backgrounds and decades of experience in government, security, and technology. Their work has saved countless lives.
Most importantly, we remain committed to making the internet a safer place for everyone.
Founders
Vidhya is a globally recognized counterterrorism expert, leading critical intergovernmental initiatives following major terrorist attacks over the past two decades. She has pioneered new efforts to disrupt and prevent terrorism and targeted violence across the Five Eyes, working with governments, tech companies, and practitioners. Vidhya has been recognized by Fortune’s Most Powerful Women, served as a Commissioning Panelist for the UK security and intelligence agencies, and has headlined TED and SXSW. She regularly advises Heads of State and testifies before the U.S. Congress, House of Commons of Canada, and UK Parliament on threats to national security.
Ross is a leading expert on application of technology to fight terrorism. His career has taken him from interviewing IRA prisoners to shadowing Hezbollah in a Lebanese war zone. After serving as a technology consultant, he went on to partner with Google to build the world’s first global network of former extremists and survivors of terrorism, designed to counter terrorism through strategic communications efforts. Ross established the first online-offline terrorism intervention models, now in operation around the globe. Ross has chaired an intergovernmental working group on strategic communications to counter terrorism, and regularly advises the U.S. Department of Defense and UK Ministry of Defence.
Our Leadership
Ethics
Working at the intersection of data, technology and online harms means that our team is constantly grappling with complex ethical issues. We recognize the potential of our work to change lives for the better, but we also recognize its potential to do harm.
That’s why we have developed ethical safeguards at every step of the way. We see our duty of care and our commitment to data privacy not as barriers for us to overcome in the development of our technology, but as opportunities to make products that are both more ethical and more effective.
See our independent annual ethics audits here.
Working at the intersection of data, technology and online harms means that our team is constantly grappling with complex ethical issues. We recognize the potential of our work to change lives for the better, but we also recognize its potential to do harm.
That’s why we have developed ethical safeguards at every step of the way. We see our duty of care and our commitment to data privacy not as barriers for us to overcome in the development of our technology, but as opportunities to make products that are both more ethical and more effective.
See our independent annual ethics
audits here.
