Among many other things, the past 24 hours were a pivotal moment for content moderation – for online safety worldwide. I'm usually not US-centric in the way I think about online safety, but what happened in Washington and online, yesterday and since, and then with the global platforms, showed us how far our thinking – and questions – about Internet safety have come. Last night Facebook and … [Read more...] about Online safety after Trump’s deplatforming
Risk & Safety
Finally! Solid cyberbullying data on tweens
There is no better source on cyberbullying than the Cyberbullying Research Center, at least in the US. And this month, National Bullying Prevention Month in the US, CRC, in partnership with Cartoon Network, released data on a whole new group of kids: 9-to-12-year-olds. It may surprise you that we know very little about tweens’ experiences with cyberbullying. But that’s because of COPPA, the … [Read more...] about Finally! Solid cyberbullying data on tweens
A simple exercise for (digital) parenting
This is inspired by all the families in Parenting for a Digital Future, the book I reviewed earlier this week (I also added this as a sidebar in that post for readers' convenience). It's a little exercise to explain and expand on the statement I led the review with: “family context eclipses screen time.” Please customize to make it meaningful to your family. Instead of watching the clock to … [Read more...] about A simple exercise for (digital) parenting
Yup. New ‘Blue Whale’ with a Momo-style twist
Here we are again. Remember “Blue Whale,” then “Momo”? Well, the B.W. challenge, or self-harm “game,” has been warmed over and repackaged with a new name and face with the creepiness of a Momo. This time it’s a weird, scary version of the cartoon character Goofy. [I don’t know—does familiarity make it less scary or more so?] In any case, its predecessors were both hoaxes, so it would be hard for … [Read more...] about Yup. New ‘Blue Whale’ with a Momo-style twist
New org for content moderation pros
This is a world first and great news at a time when everybody could use a bit of that: The Trust & Safety Professional Association opens its doors today. TSPA is a membership organization designed to support the content moderation community, the people all over the world who do the extremely challenging work of protecting social media users and freedom of expression at the same time. The … [Read more...] about New org for content moderation pros