Building Trust Through Product Design.

The Complexity of Integrity in Advertising

At Meta, the Business Integrity and Human Review teams are tasked with an immense challenge—ensuring that advertising on the platform is safe, trustworthy, and fair. While many assume integrity is purely a policy or engineering problem, it also has a deep design component. The way advertisers interact with tools, the way human reviewers process content, and the way enforcement decisions are communicated all require thoughtful, strategic product design.

I joined Meta as a Product Design Manager in 2020, stepping into the Business Integrity space at a time when online threats were evolving rapidly. My team’s mission was to create experiences that protected advertisers, prevented abuse, and ensured that legitimate businesses could succeed on the platform.

Some advertisers were outright bad actors, while others were legitimate businesses struggling with compliance. Our work ensured that good advertisers could thrive while preventing bad actors from exploiting the system.

Designing for Prevention, Detection, and Enforcement

Integrity teams at Meta use a three-pronged strategy: prevent harm, detect threats, and enforce policies. Our design efforts spanned all three:

  • Preventing Harm: Improving verification flows so advertisers could prove their identity faster and with fewer errors.

  • Detecting Threats: Enhancing tools for engineers and policy teams to better identify patterns of abuse.

  • Enforcing Policies: Ensuring that advertisers understood why they were restricted and how to appeal decisions fairly.

"Robin led a Cap D Design speculative design project to envision new and creative ways the Actor Pillar (and Business Integrity) could reduce compromise and harm by bad actors over the next few years. She oversaw this project and provided the team with clear direction, ample time and enough space to put together some truly innovative and creative design concepts." - Manager

Building and Scaling a Global Design Team

When I joined, the Actor Integrity Design Team consisted of just two designers focused on advertiser tools. Over time, my scope grew, and I expanded the team to include:

  • Seattle-based designers working on advertiser tools and policy enforcement experiences.

  • Austin-based designers focusing on internal tools to support engineers building detection models.

  • Singapore-based designers working on Human Review tools, which ensured human moderators could effectively assess complex cases where AI alone wasn’t enough.

I also hired a Design Manager in Singapore to ensure the team had local leadership and long-term strategic direction.

“Robin has an amazing ability to sense people's true strengths and she has given her team members ample opportunities to use their strengths to grow professionally. She gives people visibility when they are ready for more leadership and she nudges people who are more shy to come out of their shell and contribute at a pace that is comfortable with them. The relationships that have developed over her team are strong and we all trust each other to run ideas by and work with each other.” – Direct Report

Key Design Initiatives

  1. Simplifying Advertiser Verification: We redesigned verification flows, making it easier for businesses to prove legitimacy while reducing abuse.

  2. Enhancing Human Review Tools: We streamlined interfaces for content reviewers, reducing cognitive load and ensuring consistency in decision-making.

  3. Introducing Experience Checkpoint Reviews: We structured design reviews to align UX considerations with policy enforcement, reducing unnecessary advertiser friction.

  4. Clarifying Integrity Concepts: Integrity strategies (e.g., trust-tiering, enforcement levels, appeals) were highly complex. I led efforts to visually map out these processes and improve storytelling for cross-functional teams.

“Robin did an exemplary job on planning, rolling out, and evangelizing the Experience Checkpoint Reviews. These reviews provided an opportunity for product teams to share high-impact and/or risky new product releases and updates with leadership. Participants felt empowered and heard, and we were able to catch and resolve issues early in the process.” – Content Design Manager

Measuring Impact: Team and Leadership Achievements

Team Impact

  • Strengthened advertiser verification processes, preventing fraudulent transactions at scale.

  • Reduced enforcement friction, ensuring legitimate advertisers could operate smoothly.

  • Improved human review efficiency, reducing workload and cognitive strain for moderators.

  • Enhanced internal tools that helped engineers detect and mitigate fraud more effectively.

    * Due to confidentiality, specific impact metrics cannot be shared, but the results were significant.

Leadership Achievements:

  • Manager Effectiveness: 90%+ in Pulse surveys, multiple 100% ratings in key leadership areas.

  • Upward Feedback: 4.4 average rating from direct reports, reflecting strong leadership trust.

  • Hiring & Team Growth: Expanded the team from 2 to 9 designers across 3 global locations.

  • Process Improvements: Introduced structured design reviews that streamlined product launches and reduced post-launch design debt.

  • Recognition & Performance: Earned two consecutive "Exceeds Expectations" ratings for leadership, team development, and impact on integrity initiatives.

Key Takeaways

  • Blending Structure and Empathy for Stronger Leadership

    Meta’s structured performance management sharpened my ability to set clear goals, measure impact, and develop talent strategically. Combining this with my people-first leadership approach from Microsoft, I’ve developed a balanced leadership style: empowering teams while ensuring measurable results.

  • Remote Leadership Requires Intentional Relationship Building

    I onboarded remotely at the height of the pandemic, stepping into a new company, culture, and technical domain without ever meeting my team in person. Building trust in a fully remote setting took deliberate effort. My deepest partnerships were with my Content Design and Research leads, and together, we built a strong, highly collaborative leadership team that helped our people succeed.

  • Integrity at Meta is Evolving, But the Need for It Remains

    Since my time at Meta, the company has shifted its approach to integrity, but I remain bullish on the importance of this work. While I don’t always agree with every policy shift, I believe that many of the strategies we developed continue to protect businesses and users.

Looking forward, I remain committed to applying my design leadership in high-impact spaces—this time, in a role where I can continue fostering collaboration and creativity.