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T&S Early Warning News
Get ahead of new stories that are impacting the T&S industry.
Adults or Sexually Abused Minors? Getting It Right Vexes Facebook
NY times | Mar 31, 2022
Company Listed: Facebook
Facebook is a leader among tech companies in detecting child sexual abuse content, which has exploded on social media and across the internet in recent years. But concerns about mistakenly accusing people of posting illegal imagery have resulted in a policy that could allow photos and videos of abuse to go unreported.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp, has instructed content moderators for its platforms to “err on the side of an adult” when they are uncertain about the age of a person in a photo or video, according to a corporate training document.
TikTok and Twitter capture Ukraine war in frighteningly real time
Latimes | Mar 31, 2022
Company Listed: TikTok
A snowy sidewalk strewn with bloodied bodies. A beleaguered president roaming the streets of a country under attack. Missiles streaming. Sirens wailing. Teens making homemade bombs. And dead soldiers, so many of them, lying crumpled in fields and slumped in smoldering tanks.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has spawned a constant stream of online content, a deluge of audio-visuals that has countered Moscow’s disinformation campaign, spurred global leaders to action and helped, as they have in other recent conflicts in Syria and Ethiopia, change the way we see and understand war.
First lawsuit filed against ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law in Florida
Washingtonblade | Mar 31, 2022
Company Listed: Social Media
Mere days after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, the first lawsuit against the measure has emerged, asserting the statute “would deny to an entire generation that LGBTQ people exist and have equal dignity.”
Among the lawyers who signed the complaint — filed Thursday before the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Florida — was Roberta Kaplan, who rose to fame for successfully arguing against the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act before the U.S. Supreme Court in 2013, as partner at the New York-based law firm Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP.
How social media handles censorship and graphic content
Winknews | Mar 31, 2022
Company Listed: Social Media, TikTok
A video on social media that showed a 14-year-old falling from an Orlando ride is still up. But how can that be if politicians get in trouble for social media posts?
Right now, there is no law or regulation prohibiting people from posting that video on Facebook or Twitter. Of course, sometimes there will be a label saying that the video is graphic but displaying those is up to the platform.
As for the teen’s father, he found out about his son’s death on social media before law enforcement informed him.
That video of a 14-year-old falling more than 400 feet to his death is not something that WINK News would ever show, but social media has a different story. It has been plastered across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok.
Facebook News Feed Bug Mistakenly Elevates Misinformation, Russian State Media
Mydroll | April 1, 2022
Company Listed: Facebook
A group of Facebook engineers identified a “massive ranking failure” that exposed as much as half of all News Feed views to “integrity risks” over the past six months, according to an internal report on the incident obtained by The Verge.
The engineers first noticed the issue last October, when a sudden surge of misinformation began flowing through the News Feed, notes the report, which was shared inside the company last week. Instead of suppressing dubious posts reviewed by the company’s network of outside fact-checkers, the News Feed was instead giving the posts distribution, spiking views by as much as 30 percent globally. Unable to find the root cause, the engineers watched the surge subside a few weeks later and then flare up repeatedly until the ranking issue was fixed on March 11th.
Instagram Reels have a TikTok aggregation problem
Protocol | Mar 31, 2022
Company Listed: TikTok, Instagram
Meta’s big bet on Instagram Reels seems to be panning out so far. The short-form video tool is where Instagram users are getting the most likes, comments and shares, and Reels accounted for more than half of Facebook’s most-viewed posts in the last quarter of 2021. But there’s a catch: Some of the most popular Reels were on TikTok first. There's also no way to put this politely, but some of the other highly viewed Reels just aren’t that good.
About three-fourths of the most viewed Reels from last quarter were posted by anonymous accounts, and more than 80% came from accounts that just aggregate other people’s content, according to an analysis by the Integrity Institute that was originally provided to Recode. That includes reposts from TikTok, showing how even the viral content Meta craves to attract young people is still being created on the platform of one of its biggest competitors.
T&S Policies & Regulations
Regulatory news and policy decisions impacting the T&S ecosystem.
Compare and review T&S Policies for dozens of companies here
Ex-Facebook Executive Calls for Regulating the Social-Media Site
Thestreet | Mar 31, 2022
Company Listed: Facebook
Facebook parent Meta Platforms (FB) - Get Meta Platforms Inc. Class A Report continues to struggle.
Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg has made a number of strategic moves, including last year's dramatic rebranding to establishing an oversight board in 2018 to ensure accountability of its enforcement systems.
But critics say its content-moderation policies remain weaker than they should be and the social-media giant still hasn't fully explained how it will deal with problematic content.
Whistleblowers have leveled allegations about Facebook's work culture and that of related divisions, including photo- and video-sharing app Instagram.
Attorneys general call for TikTok, Snapchat to give parents more control over apps
Q13fox | Mar 31, 2022
Company Listed: TikTok
A group of attorneys general is pushing for TikTok and Snapchat to make their platforms safer for children by giving parents more control to protect them from harmful content.
The National Association of Attorneys General sent a letter Tuesday to Snapchat and TikTok calling for the social media companies to collaborate with parents to make "appropriate tools" available to them to monitor and filter out inappropriate posts and messages on their children’s pages.
The attorneys highlighted TikTok and Snapchat’s "Discover" and "For You" as locations on these sites for parental oversight, given that some of the content on these pages contain sexual and drug-related material.
Minnesota lawmakers need to pump the brakes before they break the internet
Project-disco | Mar 31 ,2022
Company Listed: Social media
Last year, lawmakers in dozens of states introduced bills to restrict companies from enforcing their terms of service related to the removal of content on their platforms. This was an impulse reaction by conservative lawmakers seeking to punish digital services for taking action against former President Trump’s accounts for violations of terms of use on January 6th. Opponents cautioned that these bills would make it more difficult for companies to remove inappropriate, misleading, or even dangerous information, and that they violated platforms’ First Amendment rights by forcing them to host all user-generated content, regardless of what risks that content presented. Despite warnings, policymakers in Florida and Texas proceeded to pass legislation and both states are now wasting taxpayer dollars fighting — and losing — legal battles over the constitutionality of bills.
T&S Good News
Some of the good news in the T&S industry that leaders want to know
TikTok Launches New Cybersecurity Tips Series to Help Users Avoid Scams Around Tax Time
Socialmediatoday | Mar 31, 2022
Company Listed: TikTok
With tax season coming up, TikTok’s looking to help users keep themselves safe online with the latest iteration of its digital tips series.
Partnering with a range of accountants, lawyers, and fraud fighters, TikTok will look to promote a range of tips and tactics that can help users avoid online scams.
“Last year, the IRS identified over $10 billion in losses from tax fraud and financial crimes. With Tax Day around the corner, cybercriminals may be primed to unleash a range of nefarious tactics -- whether on a connected device or a landline -- to trick people into unwittingly handing out sensitive information.”
T&S Careers & Jobs
T&S jobs posted recently, often within the last 24 hours, looking for top talent.
Check out all the recent T&S job postings here.
Associate Policy Specialist Incubation Trust & Safety Jobs
Spotify | New York, NY, USA
Posted: Mar 31, 2022
BA/BS degree required
1-2 year experience in an operations role supporting content moderation and safety
Passionate about building a safe space for our users and creators; has a strong understanding of the online safety landscape, especially issues related to free-expression
Experience driving urgent and high-priority cases through process to resolution
Excellent stakeholder management and interpersonal skills; able to navigate complex issues and passionate about helping Spotify users and creators
Excellent communication skills; experience representing your team on escalations and able to synthesize complex information for all audiences
Strong project management skills; proven track record to lead multiple projects simultaneously across time-zones and balance competing priorities
Team player with the ability to operate autonomously
Manager, Data Science & Analytics, Trust & Safety - Account Integrity
Roblox | San Mateo, CA, USA
Posted: April 01, 2022
You have the curiosity and self-drive to continuously learn new techniques and tools to extract value from data
You have a degree in Math, Statistics, Computer Science or other relevant field
A strong communicator
5+ years of industry experience in data science
1+ years of experience leading data science and analytics teams
2+ years of experience in statistical modeling and machine learning
3+ years of experience using big data query/processing languages such as SQL, Hive or Spark to transform/manipulate very large datasets
3+ years of experience in one or more scripting languages such as Python or R
Policy Advisor Kids Family Experiences Trust and Safety Jobs
Google | Los Angeles, CA, USA
Posted: April 01, 2022
Bachelor’s degree or equivalent practical experience.
4 years of hands-on experience with child development.
Experience working on kids & family policies, including accounting for the developmental needs of children in developing product and content policies.
JD, MBA or Master’s degree.
Experience with policy and knowledge of the technology sector and key policy issues affecting kids online (e.g., online safety, parental supervision, right to participation, etc).
Experience with advanced product/program management.
Experience using data and technology to solve business problems.
Ability to translate complex issues into simple, clear language and to collaborate with cross-functional stakeholders and navigate organizational boundaries.
Director of Product - Trust and Safety
Roblox | San Mateo, CA, USA
Posted: April 01, 2022
Domain experience managing teams that deal with User Generated Content (UGC)Passionate about defining what Safety means for our users, both under the age of 13 and over
Complex (multi-dimensional) analysis, including trade-offs and present alternatives that would satisfy solution requirements
Strong written and verbal communication skills, conveying ideas through detailed specifications or wireframesExperience in a fast-paced environment, with competing resources and priorities, through the product life cycle from planning and development through to launch
Strategic orientation with an entrepreneurial attitude and an ability to contribute to product design, development, and all things go-to-marketSelf starter: High degree of self direction and independent drive
Workforce Management Lead, Trust and Safety, YouTube
YouTube | San Bruno, CA, USA
Posted: April 01, 2022
Bachelor's degree in Operations Management, Supply Chain, Workforce Management, a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
10 years of experience managing teams focused on Data Science, Analytics, Workforce Operations, or a related area.
6 years of experience working in call centers, operations, vendor management, and/or workforce management in the technology industry.
Six sigma black belt or equivalent certification.
Experience managing workforces focused on operations (e.g., content moderation, mortgage processing, claims processing, etc.).
Experience collaborating and influencing stakeholders across product and business functions.
Experience using industry standard WFM systems (e.g., Verint, etc.) and leading efforts to build new WFM platforms and capabilities.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
T&S FAQs
What is T&S?
Great question (and one the industry hasn’t fully agreed upon). Think of Trust & Safety as the organization that protects social media and Big Tech companies and users from online abuse. As long as users are able to generate content online, time has told us that a minority of these users will create content that is offensive, scandalous, fraudulent, disingenuous, misinformative, hateful, spiteful, and harmful. T&S fights this with flexible policies, resilient operations, and informed detections.
Is T&S interesting?
That depends. If you enjoy stopping bad actors and keeping good people safe, then you’ll love T&S. It requires understanding new technologies and staying on top of breaking issues across society and the world. It also pays Big Tech salaries (no coding skills required).
How do you get into T&S?
That’s the tricky part. The short answer is: not easily. Most T&S orgs are part of Big Tech and (as a result) pay extremely well, so jobs are highly competitive. If you don’t know someone in the industry who can help refer you in, then you can learn more about T&S policies, current events, issues, regulations, and jobs at trustsafetyinstitute.com to improve your hiring chances and start doing meaningful work that helps people.