Safe Space - Talking Trust and Safety

About Safe Space - Talking Trust and Safety

What does it take to make the Internet a safer place? More importantly, who does it take? Safe Space explores the human side of trust & safety—featuring the leaders, thinkers, and builders working to protect online communities. Hosted by John Starr, VP of Operations and Strategic Impact at Thorn, this podcast dives into the personal journeys of those shaping the future of the digital world—one policy, one decision, and one conversation at a time. Presented by Safer by Thorn.

Publisher

Safer by Thorn

Category

technology

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

12 Feb 2025

Latest episode

6 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

12 of 15 episodes have a transcript.

1. 

   6 Oct 2026

   Ernest Farmer: What it takes to build T&S teams

   Cassie Coccaro and Pailes Halai interview Ernest Farmer, Rover's incident safety lead, about building effective trust and safety teams from his disaster response experience.

2. 

   1 Sept 2026TRANSCRIPT

   TrustCon Roundtable: Telling trust & safety’s story

   Ben Whitelaw, Vaishnavi J, and Yoel Roth discuss how the trust and safety field can effectively tell its story in this interview.

3. 

   7 Jul 2026

   Marc Leone: Moderation challenges for visual platforms

   Host Cassie Cocaro interviews Giphy's Head of Trust and Safety, Marc Leone, about moderating visual content and building child safety programs at scale.

4. 

   2 Jun 2026TRANSCRIPT

   Alice Hunsberger: The need for checks and balances

   Host Cassie Coccaro and Pailes Halai interview Alice Hunsberger, Head of Trust & Safety at Musubi, about the critical need for checks and balances in online safety.

5. 

   12 May 2026TRANSCRIPT

   Dr. Rachel Kowert: Why gaming moderation is different

   Host Cassie Coccaro and Pailes Halai interview research psychologist Dr. Rachel Kowert about the unique challenges of gaming moderation.

6. 

   27 Oct 2025TRANSCRIPT

   Lauren Jonas: Prioritizing teen well-being in AI safety

   Lauren Jonas, Head of Youth Wellbeing at OpenAI, discusses designing AI technology that supports and protects young people with hosts John Starr and Pailes Halai in an interview.

7. 

   29 Sept 2025TRANSCRIPT

   Ryn Linthicum: Applying data, research, and psychology to AI safety

   Ryn Linthicum discusses applying data, research, and psychology to AI safety at Anthropic, drawing from experiences at TikTok to build safety into AI models; this is an interview.

8. 

   25 Aug 2025

   David Polgar: Building Community Around Responsible Technology

   Host [Host Name] interviews David Polgar, founder of All Tech is Human, on building a responsible technology community and understanding trust and safety professionals' motivations.

9. 

   11 Aug 2025TRANSCRIPT

   Safe Space welcomes a new co-host, Pailes Halai

   Host John Starr interviews new co-host Pailes Halai, Thorn's Sr. Manager of Key Accounts & Partnerships, about his journey and passion for highlighting trust and safety professionals in AI.

10. 

    28 Jul 2025TRANSCRIPT

    Del Harvey: Optimism and Collaboration in Trust & Safety

    Del Harvey recounts her unique path to becoming a trust and safety leader at Twitter, discussing team building and maintaining optimism in challenging situations in this interview.

11. 

    30 Jun 2025TRANSCRIPT

    John Buckley: The Human Element in Trust & Safety

    John Buckley, Lego Group's head of child rights and safety, recounts his journey from nonprofit work to tech, emphasizing the increasing role of technology in children's lives in an interview with John Starr.

12. 

    28 May 2025TRANSCRIPT

    Aaron Rodericks: Scaling Safety During Rapid Growth

    Aaron Rodericks, Head of Trust and Safety at Bluesky, discusses scaling trust and safety at a rapidly growing startup with John Starr in this interview.

13. 

    14 Feb 2025TRANSCRIPT

    Safe Space - Talking Trust & Safety: Patricia Cartes | EP 3

    From aspiring United Nations interpreter to Trust & Safety leader, Patricia Cartes, Head of Trust & Safety at Cantina AI, takes us on her global journey into online safety. Thorn's VP of Strategic Impact, John Starr, explores Cartes' journey from translating spam websites to shaping content policies at tech giants. Patricia reflects on the early days of T&S under "online sales and operations" to its current status as a flourishing field critical to business success. She offers a ...

14. 

    13 Feb 2025TRANSCRIPT

    Safe Space - Talking Trust & Safety: Jerrel Peterson | EP 2

    From social work to social networks online, Jerrel Peterson, Director of Content Policy at Spotify and former Twitter alum, takes us on his unexpected journey into Trust & Safety. Thorn's VP of Strategic Impact, John Starr, talks with Peterson about his fascinating transition from aspiring plastic surgeon to social worker, and ultimately to a content policy expert bringing a unique perspective to online safety. Jerrel explores the crucial role of "soft skills" in Trust & Safety ...

15. 

    12 Feb 2025TRANSCRIPT

    Safe Space - Talking Trust & Safety: Yoel Roth | EP 1

    In this candid conversation, Yoel Roth, VP at Match Group and Twitter alum, shares his personal and professional evolution in Trust & Safety. Host John Starr, Thorn’s VP of Strategic Impact, asks Roth to reflect on his interests in the early internet days and lessons learned while shaping the safety landscape of today's biggest platforms. Discover how a curious grad student became a pivotal figure in online protection, and learn why Roth believes we need to shift from reactive moderation ...

Inside a recent episode

TrustCon Roundtable: Telling trust & safety’s story

Published 1 Sept 2026 · Transcript excerpt

[…] And so I would say, actually, in terms of speaking externally, speak to your communities. If you are a parent, speak to your local school council. speak in your local town meetings about what it is that's important to know about staying safe online. What are some of the trade-offs and different types of approaches to staying safe online? Again, work that you can speak to as a practitioner, but work that actually there's a real public hunger for. When we speak to parents and to teachers, there's such a climate of fear around safety, around specifically, of course, the safety of their children. And when we start talking about this in a very solutions-oriented way or in a way that explains what some of the trade-offs are of different decisions, you can actually take some of the fear out of the decision-making and make it more of an intellectual exercise, really think through, like, what do you want? […]

Who has been a guest on Safe Space - Talking Trust and Safety

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Ernest Farmer
• Ben Whitelaw
• Vaishnavi J
• Yoel Roth
• Marc Leone

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

41,736

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

7 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 32 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

21

Social presence

0

YouTube

76

Engagement

32

Contact Safe Space - Talking Trust and Safety

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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