Safety is Sexy

Cassie Coccaro, head of communications at Thorn, joins Matt to unpack why "we take safety seriously" isn't transparency, how to spot performative safety PR, and how to tell trust and safety stories without making practitioners the target. The best safety work is invisible: the harm that never happened, the content you never saw. Cassie and Matt dig into how platforms can prove a negative, what a genuinely good transparency report looks like, and why suspiciously timed safety announcements are a red flag. Plus, lessons from TikTok's earliest transparency reports and why brand safety might be the business case that finally gets trust and safety the resources it deserves.

This week, I sit down with Christine Weber, CTO of Twitch, to talk about what it takes to build safety at scale for live streaming. Christine walks through how Twitch approaches moderation across millions of live streams every month, the creator-first tools like Shield Mode and AutoMod that put real control in streamers' hands, and why Twitch has deliberately kept humans in the loop with AI. She also gets into how creator feedback shapes the product, how Twitch thinks about regulation as a starting point rather than a finish line, and what it means to plant a flag and say you're building the safest place to stream on the internet.

This week I am joined by Rob Lewington, SVP of Trust and Safety at TP. We dig into what it actually means for players to thrive in games, why safety is a prerequisite and not a tradeoff, and how the structural design advantages of games give builders more room to shape healthy communities than purely social platforms ever could. They also dig into how to measure community health beyond operational inputs, what it looks like to recognize companies doing innovative safety work, and why building that kind of industry infrastructure matters for the field's long-term growth.

Should you build your trust & safety stack in-house or partner with a provider? Matt and Hill Stark break down how to make the call—covering partner fit, testing with your own data, policy-specific moderation, and the real cost of building and maintaining a safety program internally.

Dr. Elizabeth Milovidov, Global Head of Parent Advocacy at Roblox and longtime digital parenting expert, unpacks what it means to raise kids in a gaming-first and online world. Dr. Milovidov dives into why conversations matter more than controls and how to use behavior (not just minutes) to gauge whether screen time is healthy. Further, she  shares practical ways to co-play games like Roblox and Minecraft, tips to choose age-appropriate content, how to spot red flags without panicking, and methods to turn safety tools and settings into part of a shared family plan so you can feel less like a tech cop and more like the trusted adult your child needs.

Welcome to our first live recording of the 'Safety is Sexy' podcast. This week I am joined by Weszt Hart, Head of Player Dynamics at Riot Games, to discuss prosocial behavior in online gaming. Weszt shares insights from his extensive experience emphasizing the importance of creating game environments that encourage building trust and fostering positive player interactions. We delve into the definition of prosocial behavior emphasizing actions that benefit others, whether intentional or not. We include practical examples from various games, strategies for fostering trust, and the broader goal of digital thriving.

Safety is Sexy is back with a special TrustCon 2025 episode! This week Matt sits down with the insightful Alice Hunsberger to dive into what makes TrustCon such a meaningful gathering for the trust and safety community. From practical conference tips and awkward networking moments to fashion debates and session previews, Matt and Alice bring warmth, humor, and wisdom as they gear up for another inspiring year. Whether you're a first-time attendee or a seasoned pro, this episode is your optimistic guide to making the most of TrustCon 2025.

In this episode of Safety is Sexy I speak with Joel Silk, a former Air Force intelligence officer with extensive experience in cybersecurity and trust and safety. Joel discusses his transition from military intelligence to cybersecurity and then to trust and safety. We discuss: The importance of protecting users and systems, how collaboration between cybersecurity and trust and safety teams can significantly improve user confidence and platform integrity, the impact of emerging technologies like AI, blockchain, and quantum computing, and how they can shape practices in both fields, and we also discuss practices for incident response and communication particularly in light of recent cybersecurity breaches affecting telecommunications.