All you need to know about TrustCon (even if you're not going)

I'm Alice Hunsberger. Trust & Safety Insider is my weekly rundown on the topics, industry trends and workplace strategies that trust and safety professionals need to know about to do their job.

This week, we're talking all things TrustCon, the big annual conference for T&S professionals:

• How to make the most out of the conference (or really, any conference)
• What TrustCon tells us about where T&S is these days
• Where to find me (if you're there and interested, of course)
• And, as a bonus, the podcast where you can hear my embarrassing conference stories

Before we get into that though, two quick things. First, can we take a minute to talk about Grok? The X/Twitter AI model went completely off the rails, and started calling itself “MechaHitler” after its public guardrails were changed to "not shy away from making claims which are politically incorrect." These changes were rolled back and the company apologised for "horrific behavior" but this just goes to show how critical it is to prioritise safety. I can't believe some companies still rank it so low on their list of priorities. Read this piece from tech journalist Max Read if you want to better understand why this happened.

Second, I usually bury links at the end, but I just wrote about moving away from a factory-work model of T&S with Chayeeta Sarkar, VP of Alorica, and want to especially highlight the playbook I created. It covers how to make the business case for specialist/expert teams in T&S, how to structure teams between in-house and vendors and more. I hope it's helpful.

As always, feel free to get in touch if you're going to TrustCon, or just want to say hi. Here we go! — Alice

What TrustCon tells us about T&S today

TrustCon is the Trust & Safety conference of the year, with the most attendees, sessions, and hype.

It's organised by the Trust & Safety Professional Organization, a nonprofit, and panels are approved by a diverse group of T&S community members. There are also thoughtful touches like a wellness room, fresh cookies in the afternoon right when your energy is flagging, and very on-brand merch with the "This Is Fine" dog meme and a cartoon dumpster fire.

That said, it's also very serious. There are panels by the most seasoned experts in the industry, hands-on workshops and roundtables, and organised networking and mentorship sessions.

This year, just based on the agenda, it feels like there are more panels that are based on concrete problem-solving than last year, as well as more opportunities for hands-on workshops and roundtables. I also was pleased to see more engineering talks (we need more T&S-specialised engineers!) and a nice sprinkling of wellness panels mixed in. Overall, it feels like a mature agenda that has less room for fluff and ambiguity. Some examples of panels I’m really excited about: 

• Trust the Mods! Best Practices in the Design and Management of Content Review Systems (workshop)
• From Edge Cases to Safety Standards: AI Red Teaming in Practice (workshop)
• Language Equity in AI Content Moderation (workshop)
• Human Rights as the Foundation for Responsible AI and Trust & Safety: The Case of Agentic AI
• Global Majority Diasporas in T&S Organisations
• The Geopolitics of AI-Powered Policy Enforcement: Balancing Technology, Safety and Billions of Global Users

As you can tell I'm into the AI and human rights tracks this year! :)

TrustCon can feel pretty overwhelming, so if you’re looking for advice from a couple of introverts, Matt Soeth and I chatted on his podcast Safety is Sexy about all things TrustCon. Some top tips from our conversation:

• Planning: Prioritise what you want to do before you go. There's so much happening, you will miss out on something cool. Pick just a couple of things per day that are must-dos and otherwise be gentle with yourself.
• Looking and feeling good: You'll see people in suits and sweats and everything between, so pick whatever outfit makes you feel your best. And bring cough drops even if you don't have a cough! 
• Networking: Sign up for the Coffee Chats and attend activities. Prioritise hallway conversations and workshops/ roundtables over huge panels. Set your phone's lock screen to your LinkedIn QR code or use an app like Popl to share a digital business card.
• Learning: Download the TrustCon app and save all the panels you want to attend. Take notes! Physically writing things down helps you remember. Take brain breaks when you need to in the wellness room.
• Sales/ business development: Know that T&S people hate being sold to. The absolute worst thing you can do is be That Annoying Sales Guy. Prioritize genuine connections and listening over giving your sales pitch. Also know that leaders at major platforms get absolutely bombarded with sales people and vendors at these kinds of things, so it's better to take notes and then follow up later, rather than trying to pitch live.

Where to find me (if you're interested, of course)

Monday July 21

1 - 1:30pm: Coffee Chats - sign up for a slot and chat with me (or another host) for mentorship & advice on anything you want.

3 - 4:30pm: Addressing Anti-Trans Hate Speech Online - a roundtable with Jenni Olson (GLAAD) and me. This facilitated roundtable discussion will provide participants with a deeper understanding of the most prevalent types of hate and disinformation targeting people on the basis of gender identity. Plus we'll explore strategies for T&S professionals to advocate internally at platforms for interventions against anti-trans hate content.

Tuesday July 22

11:10am - 12pm: The Ethical Build and Use of ML/AI for Content Moderation - panel with Dr. Rebecca Portnoff (Thorn), Mike Pappas (Modulate), Dave Willner (Zentropi), and me. This panel explores how engineers, data scientists, and trust and safety practitioners translate these principles into real-world decisions when building and using ML/AI for content moderation.

1:30 - 2:20pm: Finding Your Voice: Public Speaking and Advocacy in Trust and Safety - panel with Katie Harbath (Anchor Change), Anika Collier Navaroli (Tech Policy Press), Mike Masnick (Techdirt), and me. Come to this panel to explore the rewards and risks of going public with your expertise. We’ll discuss various platforms for sharing your voice — whether through social media, newsletters, podcasts, conferences, or engaging with the press — and offer practical tips to help you get started.

Wednesday July 23:

11:10am - 12pm Small teams, many users, big problems: T&S strategies for startups and scaleups - panel with me moderating (and giving insights from my background at OkCupid and Grindr, but also current experiences at Musubi supporting platforms), featuring Aaron Rodericks (Bluesky), Josh Parecki (Zoom), and Marc Leone (Giphy). All about the unique challenges and opportunities faced by small Trust & Safety teams at startups and scaling companies. It's not all about the big guys!

And finally, rounding out the entire conference, from 4:10 - 5pm: Ctrl-Alt-Speech Live: TrustCon 2025 Edition - live podcast recording, with me doing my best Ben Whitelaw impression with Mike Masnick and featuring Ashkhen Kazaryan (Vanderbilt) and Toni Morgan, MBA (Salesforce). Expect sharp insights, behind-the-scenes stories, and a chance to ask your own questions in a live Q&A.

Also worth reading

Teaching kids about AI (Family Online Safety Institute)
Why? Such a great resource about how to teach curiosity, critical thinking, and AI literacy.

Missouri AG: Any AI That Doesn’t Praise Donald Trump Might Be “Consumer Fraud” (No, Really) (Techdirt)
Why? Between this and Grok's dive off the deep end, I am truly at a loss for words this week.

Expert Generalist (Martin Fowler)
Why? This was cool to read, as I feel like being an expert generalist is kinda my thing. "As computer systems get more sophisticated we've seen a growing trend to value deep specialists. But we've found that our most effective colleagues have a skill in spanning many specialties."