Automated Content Moderation Patents: Who Leads, Where Gaps Are 2026
Automated Content Moderation Patents: Filing Trends and Where the Field Concentrates
Filings nearly tripled in three years. Growth ran +132% from 19 filings in 2021 to 44 in 2024, the last year the dataset can treat as complete. Annual filings rose from 5 in 2017 to a peak of 113 in 2025, with the 2021-to-2024 span alone showing +132% growth (19 to 44). 2025 and 2026 figures are undercounts by construction — publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so the most recent two years will keep filling in as later applications publish.
- 1MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING LLC45
- 2CITIBANK N A10
- 3ZSCALER INC9
- 4GOOGLE LLC9
- 5SNAP INC9
See the full automated content moderation analysis in Eureka
- The complete ranking, not just the top five
- Every IPC branch with its share of the corpus
- The most-cited records, and where claim space is still thin
Common questions about this landscape
Who holds the most patents in automated content moderation?
One assignee leads the ranked field with 45 of the 360 records in scope, noticeably ahead of the rest of the top ranks — fifth place holds 9 and tenth place holds 6. However, the top 5 assignees combined only account for 22.8% of all 360 records, and the top 10 combined reach 32.8%, so the field is not tightly controlled by a small group. Most of the corpus sits with smaller filers across the ranked list of 100 assignees the dataset returns.
Is patent filing in content moderation still growing in 2026?
Filing activity grew sharply through the middle of the decade, rising from 19 filings in 2021 to 44 in 2024, a +132% increase over that span. The dataset’s own trend line peaks at 113 filings in 2025, but figures for 2025 and 2026 are understated because patent publication typically lags filing by about 18 months. Treat 2024 as the most recent year the trend can be read as complete, and expect the 2025–2026 bars to keep rising as later applications publish.
What patent classes matter most for content moderation technology?
G06F (electric digital data processing) and G06N (computing based on AI models) carry the largest claim footprint, appearing in 53.9% and 40.0% of the 360 records respectively. G06Q (business, commerce and admin data processing) and H04L (digital information transmission) follow at 22.5% and 19.2%. Image- and video-specific codes such as G06V, G06K, H04N and G06T are present but each cover under 16% of records, indicating that most claim activity centers on data processing and model infrastructure rather than media-specific recognition alone.
Disclaimer. This analysis is based on Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent records and is provided for general information and reference only. Patent data carries inherent limitations — recent filings are under-counted because of publication lag, counts may be on a record or family basis, classification and applicant-name data may contain errors or duplicates, and the underlying search query defines the scope shown — so the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing here is an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Verify independently and review with qualified patent and legal professionals before acting on it.
Method: Filing trend and technology composition. Derived from a Patsnap search on Automated Content Moderation covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish. Every share divides by all records in scope. Data: Patsnap Eureka. See the full landscape report.