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T&S Early Warning News
Get ahead of new stories that are impacting the T&S industry.
VR developers accuse Facebook of withholding the keys to metaverse success
Washington Post | September 14, 2022
Company Listed: Social Media
RJ White, 29, knows how difficult it can be to persuade Meta to put a game onto its virtual reality headset. He first applied in 2019 with a multiplayer shooting game called “Animov” but was informed through a form email that the game wasn’t a good fit.
He tried again with “Hardlight Blade,” a game in which players use laserlike swords to slice and dice attacker robots. That application was rejected, too. Finally, after submitting “Sun Shard,” a basic sword-fighting game set inside a dungeon, White gained approval from Meta and what he hopes will be a lucrative foothold in the virtual reality industry.
Patreon Denies Viral TikTok Accusations That It Hosts Child Sexual Abuse Material
Vice | September 14, 2022
Company Listed: TikTok
Patreon has released a public statement denying viral and unproven allegations on social media that its platform is hosting child sexual abuse material.
The allegations are based on a handful of Patreon accounts that sold pictures of what appears to be minors in bathing suits. One viral TikTok, which asked the Department of Justice to investigate Patreon, suggested that the company knowingly allowed this material to stay on its platform, based on a Glassdoor review which Patreon said is fake, and recent news of layoffs on Patreon’s security team.
Social media encourages teen substance use – study
The Educator Online | September 14, 2022
Company Listed: Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, Weib
A major analysis of drug and alcohol use content is depicted positively on social media, encouraging substance abuse among teens and putting them at risk of developing drug and alcohol issues.
The University of Queensland study, which analysed 16 million posts across Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok and Weibo, examined how drug and alcohol use content was portrayed across social media.
Who’s Protecting Our Kids From Online Threats In The Digital Era?
Forbes | September 14, 2022
Company Listed: Social Media
In a world where technology is constantly evolving and growing more complex, it’s more important than ever to protect your personal information. Identity theft is a serious issue that can have a lasting impact on victims—especially on our youth.
In 2021, 1.25 million children had their identities stolen, up from 1 million in 2017. This represents a 25% increase in just four years, according to the results of a study by Javelin. That means that one out of every 50 children was a victim of identity fraud last year.
Operation targeting online child sex abuse nets 141 arrests across Southern California
Las Angels Times | September 14, 2022
Company Listed: Social Media
Authorities arrested 141 people across Southern California — most of them on suspicion of possessing child sexual abuse material — as part of a weeklong operation targeting online abuse, officials said Wednesday.
The effort was spearheaded by the long-running Los Angeles Regional Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, which comprises dozens of law enforcement agencies led by the LAPD. The results of the operation, which was conducted Sept. 6-12, were announced at a news conference outside Los Angeles police headquarters early Wednesday.
'This isn't an acceptable part of the job': How journalists and publishers can tackle online abuse
Press Gazette | September 15, 2022
Company Listed: Social Media
Rebecca Whittington, who took on the role at Reach last year, also told Press Gazette’s Future of Media Explained podcast why she has become a “critical friend” to social media platforms like Meta and Twitter and why she believes collaboration between publishers will make them a more “robust force” against the blight of attacks against journalists.
Whittington (pictured) joined Reach from Leeds Trinity University where she was a journalism course leader and lecturer, work which she said gave her the training, pastoral care and research skills needed for her new job. She has also worked in regional journalism herself, including at the Yorkshire Post.
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
TikTok claims it’s not collecting US users’ biometric data, despite what privacy policy says
Tech Crunch | September 14, 2022
Company Listed: TikTok
Last year, TikTok quietly updated its privacy policy to allow the app to collect biometric data on U.S. users, including “faceprints and voiceprints” — a concerning change that the company declined to detail at the time or during a subsequent Senate hearing held last October. Today, the tech company was again asked about its intentions regarding this data collection practice during a Senate hearing focused on social media’s impact on homeland security.
TikTok’s earlier privacy policy change had introduced a new section called “Image and Audio Information” under the section “Information we collect automatically.” Here, it detailed the types of images and audio that could be collected, including: “biometric identifiers and biometric information as defined under U.S. laws, such as faceprints and voiceprints.”
South Korea slaps Google and Meta with $72 million fine for violating the country’s privacy laws
First post | September 15, 2022
Company Listed: Google, Meta
South Korea’s PIPC or the Personal Information Protection Commission, a branch of the government that is charged with protecting the personal information and privacy laws in the country, imposed a number of fines and penalties on Google and Meta over the violations of the country’s privacy laws.
The fines total KRW 100 billion or roughly $72 million. Google has been dealt the bigger hit, with a fine of KRW 69.2 billion or around $50 million, whereas Meta was fined KRW 30.8 billion or roughly $22 million or so. The two companies were accused of not acquiring legitimate consent before collecting user information through third-party websites and apps.
California sues Amazon, accusing it of anti competitive behavior
Washington Post | September 14, 2022
Company Listed: Amazon
California sued Amazon on Wednesday, alleging that the company caused higher prices across the state and “stifled competition.”
Amazon penalizes sellers on its site if they offer products elsewhere for lower prices, the state alleged. That makes it harder for others to compete, therefore entrenching Amazon’s market power, the state said in a press release announcing the lawsuit.
New California law likely to set off fight over social media moderation
Washington Post | September 14, 2022
Company Listed: Social Media
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed a controversial bill into law that aims to force greater transparency of social media companies, setting up a potential battle over whether such measures violate free-speech protections.
The law, known as A.B. 587, requires tech companies to file semiannual reports with the state’s attorney general that publicly disclose their content moderation policies regarding hate speech, disinformation and extremism. The bill, which Newsom signed Tuesday, was introduced in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol as scrutiny grew on the tech giants’ role in fomenting extremism and violence.
Lawmakers Grill TikTok Executive about Ties to China
NY Times | September 14, 2022
Company Listed: TikTok
Senators grilled a top TikTok executive on Wednesday about whether the viral video app could leak data to the Chinese government, the first time a leader at the company has had to answer to lawmakers in public about recent reports on its ties to Beijing.
Members of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee repeatedly asked TikTok’s chief operating officer, Vanessa Pappas, about whether the company would ever provide data about Americans to Chinese officials or delete content at their request. TikTok’s owner, ByteDance, is based in China.
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.
Frontend Engineer, Trust & Safety
Index Ventures | New York, NY, USA
Posted: September 14, 2022
Demonstrated frontend engineering experience on larger, cross-functional projects.
Experience in React, or a willingness to learn.
Modern machine-learning approaches to adversarial problems.
Shiftkey | Irving, TX, USA
Posted: September 14, 2022
Bachelor's degree or higher.
Minimum of 3-4 years experience in a community management role.
Advanced knowledge of Salesforce.
Critical thinking skills to understand and summarize complex issues within minutes.
Ability to multitask, prioritize, and keep up with a large volume of tasks in a fast-paced environment.
Thrive in a fast-paced and quickly changing and evolving environment.
Extreme attention to detail.
Passion for helping people.
Senior Full Stack Software Engineer - Trust & Safety
Confidential | United States
Posted: September 14, 2022
Minimum of 5+ years engineering experience, exposure to Trust & Safety an added bonus.
Substantial knowledge of React, Angular, TypeScript, JavaScript.
Full-stack engineering experience with Golang or Python.
Experience designing and building real-world web applications and javascript libraries with cross browser support.
A focus on safety and a desire to uncover and understand the full specifications of a problem before acting.
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.