Bluesky's Approach to Trust and Safety

I’m grateful this week that Aaron Rodericks, Vice President of Trust and Safety at Bluesky, made the time to join me for a conversation about how the platform is tackling the surge in users it’s seen in the U.S. since the election. This isn’t the first time they’ve seen such growth spurts—another happened in Brazil when X was briefly banned. These rapid user increases bring unique challenges to moderating content and require some impossible tradeoffs.Aaron talks about the different approaches Bluesky takes to content moderation, the unique aspects of the platform, its decentralized nature, and the challenges of scaling operations amidst rapid user growth. Aaron shares insights on content moderation, the balance between automation and human oversight, and the evolving policies to address emerging harms. The discussion also touches on user control, verification processes, and the future compliance and product development roadmap.To learn more about Bluesky’s approach, read Mike Masnik’s piece Protocols, Not Platforms: A Technological Approach to Free Speech. Also, here is an interview Wired did with CEO Jay Graber this week, as the platform crosses 24 million users.Please support the curation and analysis I’m doing with this newsletter. As a paid subscriber, you make it possible for me to bring you in-depth analyses of the most pressing issues in tech and politics. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit anchorchange.substack.com/subscribe