Emerging decentralized social network and X rival Bluesky has just hired a notable former Twitter leader as its new head of trust and safety. The company announced Wednesday that it has appointed Aaron Rodericks, who most recently served as co-leader of Twitter's Trust and Safety team, to this new role.
Leaders below the C-suite typically don't make headlines, but Mr. Roderix became more publicly known after becoming the target of a right-wing campaign at X. Influencers took notice of an announcement he made on LinkedIn last year indicating that he was planning to hire more staff. For his upcoming 2024 election.
His call seeks users with a “passion for protecting the integrity of elections and civic events,” and has attracted the attention of right-wing figures such as Chaya Lajczyk (TikTok Lib) and former Trump State Department official Mike Benz. collected. The latter is the latter. Roderix is a former colleague of Yoel Roth, who said he is “somehow” still at Company (Mr. Musk initially defended Mr. Ross, but after his departure he defended Mr. Ross), and he attacked the executive with X. Ross then received death threats after which he had to flee his home. )
Image credits: Blue Sky/Aaron Roderix
Roderix lost his job at X after Musk promised to expand his election integrity team last fall, then cut it by half, the Information reported at the time.musk Confirmed “Oh, you mean the 'election integrity' team that was undermining election integrity?” he said with a sneer. Yes, they are gone. ”
In other words, by hiring Rodericks, Bluesky is sending a signal to potential users. This suggests that the network will take an approach that is as trustworthy and secure as Twitter was before Musk's acquisition, if not more so.
It's a timely choice for the young startup, considering it has already experienced high-profile failures in the space before its public launch. Changes to its moderation policy following death threats against users have raised many questions about whether the platform is safe for marginalized communities, and the network has previously strained relations with Black users. In another incident, Bluesky came under fire for allowing usernames containing racial slurs to slip through its moderation efforts. Mr. Bruski then addressed the matter haphazardly by apologizing privately via email to those who contacted him, but he did not say anything publicly.
Now that Bluesky is open to the public, despite its decentralized ethos and unique moderation, Trust & Safety must be further established on its network. Bluesky, as the operator of the server that will be the main his Bluesky server, is responsible for meeting the moderation needs of currently over 5 million users, even after the federation is launched. Unlike centralized platforms like Twitter/X or Meta's Threads, Bluesky's moderation includes several layers. Server operators like the company itself can set rules on their own servers, but these can be supplemented by other tools that are more community-driven, such as moderation services or blocklists.
“There is an urgent global need for social networks that can safely and effectively serve the needs of communities and individuals,” Roderix said in a statement about the hiring. “People expect social media to provide a healthy level of built-in moderation, with clearly defined rules applied consistently. However, we find that this is not enough. Communities also need the ability to self-organize around more opinion-based moderation principles, and the tools to keep these efforts sustainable. Bluesky takes both of these demographics seriously. “We're excited about this and believe our novel approach to user selection with stackable moderation will be an important part of guiding and growing healthy online conversations,” he added.
According to Bluesky, Rodericks will lead a moderation team that will be available 24/7 to ensure compliance with Bluesky Community Guidelines, and promises that reports will be reviewed within 24 hours. Bluesky will soon allow users to subscribe to an independent moderation service that will be applied in addition to the existing moderation services provided by Bluesky.
Before working at Twitter, where he worked on issues such as hate speech and harassment, Roderix worked within Canada's federal government building capacity for social data analysis in volatile provinces, while also helping to launch the Global Coalition Against Daesh. He was also engaged in research on sect activities. I got it.
“I am deeply invested in how users can best control their online social spaces,” said Bluesky CEO Jay Graber. “Aaron's expertise in global trust and safety brings valuable experience to our moderation team. His interest in improving the foundations of public conversation helps our users create vibrant, personalized communities. “We can help you design customizable and resilient moderation systems that you can build on,” she said.