What a year it has been. And what a week. Or two, almost. I’ll start with the latest, because it was a telling cap-off to 2022: On December 8, three of us – Eirliani Abdul Rahman, a survivor of and activist against child sexual abuse, Lesley Podesta representing the Young & Resilient Research Center at Western Sydney University and I – resigned from Twitter's Trust and Safety Council, a … [Read more...] about Where did my Twitter go? And other end-of-2022 notes
online safety
BeReal & being real about safety & privacy
Seventeen magazine recently asked me if the BeReal app is safe for teens. Here’s their article about that, which is great but of course lots got left on the cutting floor. Here’s my full take: The way this Paris-based app is designed, it’s actually safer than a lot of other apps because it’s made for sharing just among friends. Accounts are private by default. People have to ask permission to … [Read more...] about BeReal & being real about safety & privacy
Why partner with teens on tech: Great new book
At this transitional moment for digital tech and youth online safety, the new book Behind Their Screens: What Teens Are Facing (and Adult Are Missing) feels almost miraculous to me. The first reason why is that it’s more about teens than screens. Since the beginning of public concern about youth online safety in the late 1990s, we have been almost obsessively focused on the technology, not so … [Read more...] about Why partner with teens on tech: Great new book
Online safety after Trump’s deplatforming
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
A pivotal book for digital safety & citizenship
The importance of the new book – Young People in Digital Society: Control Shift – cannot be exaggerated. It provides the scholarship we adults need to make the pivot of the 21st century: away from dictating to young people and toward partnering with them as we all figure out life in this ever more digitally powered world. It’s also a wakeup call. “Control Shift” is an economical, cleverly … [Read more...] about A pivotal book for digital safety & citizenship