What TrustCon's agenda says about T&S in 2026
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.
We're hurtling towards the biggest T&S industry event of the year and that means it's my job to go through the agenda with a fine-tooth comb to see what it says about T&S in 2026.
Not only will I be leading a bunch of sessions at TrustCon next week (20-22 July) but I'll have some fun enamel pins to give out too. Grab me after a panel or for a mentorship coffee chat.
While IRL events like TrustCon are important, I realise there are many T&S folks who can't make it for all manner of reasons. I also want to hear from you too: What stopped you from going? What's on your mind? And what would be useful for me to share in forthcoming editions of T&S Insider?
Reach out either way. And thanks for reading T&S Insider, as ever — Alice
What's in (and out) at TrustCon this year
As many of you know, TrustCon is the largest Trust & Safety conference of the year and, according to Ben at least, is a “mix of Glastonbury and Davos for the Trust & Safety industry”.
The three-day event is organised by the Trust & Safety Professional Association (TSPA), the industry association for T&S workers, which spends months reviewing proposals from a diverse group of T&S community members. The sessions that end up on the agenda tell us a lot about our industry and where it’s heading.
A caveat before I jump in: there are obvious limits to reading too much this snapshot of accepted proposals. This year was incredibly competitive for session submissions, and I know there isn’t room for everything. But I do see some themes that are worth discussing.
P.S. In the spirit of transparency, I’ll discuss which of my own proposals were accepted and rejected, and how I see them fitting into the themes overall. I didn’t expect all of my proposals to be accepted, and I am truly excited about this year’s programming. It’s going to be a great TrustCon.
Practicality above all
Topics like ROI framing, crisis management, applying scarcity frameworks, and worker wellbeing are a thread running throughout the three-day agenda. The panel that I coordinated, and which was approved, is on another concrete, practical, fundable topic, that of minimum viable policy design for small teams.
This emphasis points to a field that is rapidly professionalising while still having to make the case for its own budget and headcount. These topics aren't the exciting emerging issues that AI or child safety represent, but they matter as much as ever. I’m glad that TSPA has recognised this: it's hard to have a conversation about the next paradigm while you're still fighting for resources in the current one.