Happy Halloween! I do an online safety costume every year. This year, I’ve gone phishing.

The 47th president proudly spoke against trans people and anti-racism in his inauguration speech: people will now feel more empowered to spew hate. If you manage support, marketing, trust & safety, etc. create a playbook NOW to support & empower your team to respond to hateful customers. 🧵

Many of us working at tech companies are having to make moral and ethical decisions when it comes to where we work, what we work on, and what we speak up about. It's super difficult to know what to do, or even what your options are! 🧵 with resources

Every t&s professional I know this week. ❤️ to those who are doing their best in wild times.

One thing I haven’t seen anyone talk about with Meta’s moderation changes: now relying on manual user reports for “less severe” issues that still violate their policies, rather than using a combination of user reports and automated detection. It’s bad. Here’s why: 🧵

Meta says they will "censor less" - including more speech about gender identity (allow hate speech against trans people) WHILE ALSO Today User Mag reports Instagram restricting content on searches for things like queer and nonbinary for teenagers who had the "sensitive content" filter turned on.

Now this is a holiday card I can get behind… @heatherrasley.bsky.social trained ai on old Victorian holiday cards. Genius. glif.app/@Heather/gli... for more

🔮 Behold: 2025 will bring change to the realm of trust & safety, yet it will feel exactly the same (chaotic and stressful). My predictions for next year (with wisdom from other t&s leaders): www.everythinginmoderation.co/2025-predict...

If you’re interested in trust & safety, would you please fill out this quick survey, so I can write my newsletter about things you care about? survey.typeform.com/to/A7oqCg8s?...

Block the Negative Nancys! (They might be bots)

I made a T&S zine! My question for folks at TrustCon was: What does the T&S community need to hear right now? Of course, the T&S community delivered. 21662382.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/216623...

Could a more transparent, collaborative, and adaptable policy enforcement model combat cries of 'censorship' and empower diverse online communities to self-moderate? Open-source policy documents and AI-driven auditability might hold the key. Read more www.everythinginmoderation.co/fighting-com...

The expert of t&s 🧵strikes again! Such an important read.

Full room this morning at #IAPP #DPC24 for a panel discussing “Implications and Expectations for Digital Policy of the new US Administration”, with US digital policy heavyweights - Cameron Kerry, @JulesPolonetsky.bsky.social (@FutureofPrivacy.bsky.social) & Caitlin Fennessy (IAPP). 1/

this essay is full of actual research showing trans women pose no threat to cis women in restrooms & other sex-segregated spaces. if you encounter any cis ppl discussing/debating the Mace/McBride/congressional restroom fuckery, pls share this link with them: juliaserano.medium.com/transgender-...

Today is Trans Day of Remembrance. Trans lives matter. Trans rights matter.

This seems appropriate for these times… (I searched for comics with “AAGH” in them because those are my initials 😁. From 1954).

My son is in first grade at a school that just banned phones. A parent of one of his classmates sent out an email asking if anyone wants to talk about our kids and digital safety. Welllll.... ask a T&S expert about social media policy and you'll get a LOT of words! 🧵1 of who knows how many

In case you think it's easy to run trust & safety for a rapidly growing social media platform... give it a shot.

When I worked at dating apps, I got so frustrated with "good users" (read: not trolls or bad actors) making bad choices (i.e. being brutally mean to other people because they "had a bad day"). Whyy? @newpublic.substack.com brings the research I always wanted. newpublic.substack.com/p/social-med...

THANKSGIVING STUFFING FLAVORED CANDY! www.pd.net/products/loo...

My parents and I are Buddhist, but the rest of my family is Christian(ish). Winter holidays were just... whatever we were in the mood for. Sometimes we had a christmas tree, or a winter shrine, or we did Icelandic yule. Last year I didn't do much. This year: BRING ON ALL THE HOLIDAY STUFF!!!!

It’s clear that trust & safety/ moderation at platforms is moving from “follow the ethics and priorities of the ceo” to “follow the ethics and priorities of the government” (aka compliance-based). This is bad when it’s an authoritative government that believes LGBTQ+ content is porn.

What are the best joyful feeds to follow here, for when I need a break from doom and gloom? 🙏🏻

I've spoken to many people who point out that things were bad when we grew up, homophobia and transphobia were endemic, and we survived. What people need to remember is how many of us didn't, and that this is a generation that has seen a better world already— one being taken from them violently.

My 7 year old: “So mom, how’s Trust & Safety going?” Me: 😩

Which to protect more online: Privacy, safety, or self expression? Platforms need to tradeoff somewhere and they’re all important. We’re finally getting answers. (It’s not privacy) www.everythinginmoderation.co/four-horseme...

🚨 PSA: If you voted in the US election, it's likely that your full name and home address are easily searched online. US voting records are public and a website called VoteRef has compiled them all, with the goal of "encouraging greater voter participation"

Realized I never did an intro post, so here's a 🧵: I've been working in online safety for 22 years. At this point, it’s my profession, but also my hobby and passion.

The government-elect in the US views content moderation as censorship & will likely attack Section 230 & net neutrality. On the other hand: increased online safety regulation and "duty of care" in the EU, UK, Australia, etc. & lawsuits to hold tech companies accountable for not moderating enough.

Two big news stories from Australia and Canada in trust & safety that you may have missed (I’m distracted by US election commentary too): 1- Australia’s under-16 social media ban is official 2- TikTok is barred from operating in Canada due to security concerns (Canadians can still use the app)

Things I’ve done in the 2 hours I’ve been awake today: - cried - checked in on my family - set up a monthly donation to the Trevor Project We’ll see how things unfold but my immediate fear is that trans kids lose hope for their future. Doing everything I can to help.

❤️ to everyone working on election integrity and trust and safety teams today. ❤️ to poll workers. ❤️ to everyone who has exercised their right to vote. ❤️ to those who are doing their part to hope for a future where everyone is respected and safe. (Is that too much to ask?) Please vote! ✌🏻

For Halloween I dressed up as the scariest thing I could think of…

Hot take: Philippines drag is better than LA drag (hello from Manila)

Working in trust & safety means you see monsters everywhere online… but I just met one IRL!

I have a lot of questions about Article 21 of the DSA, and few answers… but I do know that there’s the potential for radical change around policy enforcement: www.everythinginmoderation.co/article-21-d...

In my newsletter this week, I took a look at how Safety, Security, and Privacy intersect with each other. I realized they all have the goal of protecting the company, the users, and the data, but from different directions:

Dipping my toes into posting here, though it's been approximately 5 years since I posted anywhere but LinkedIn. Who are the Trust & Safety folks to follow? How do I build up a list of rad people on here? What do people like to see? Help! :)