In this sponsored Spotlight episode of Ctrl-Alt-Speech, host Ben Whitelaw speaks with George Vlasto, head of the Trust & Safety division at Resolver, as the organisation marks its 20th anniversary. Their conversation looks back at two decades of Resolver’s work supporting platforms and safeguarding online communities, and explores how that legacy has shaped its newest innovations.

Ben and George dig into Resolver’s unique approach to scaling the detection of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) and unpack why ATHENA — the company’s latest breakthrough — may be one of the most significant yet under-recognised tools in the fight against online harms.

Further reading:

• Twenty Years of Protecting Children Online
• The Human at the Heart of the Machine: A 20-Year Lesson in Online Safety
• From Reactive to Predictive: Why It’s No Longer Enough to Spot What’s Already Happened

This episode is brought to you in partnership with Resolver.

Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast from Techdirt and Everything in Moderation. Send us your feedback at podcast@ctrlaltspeech.com and sponsorship enquiries to sponsorship@ctrlaltspeech.com. Thanks for listening.

In this week's round-up of the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Mike and Ben cover:

• Meta wins FTC antitrust trial over Instagram, WhatsApp deals (CNBC)
• Commission eyes further simplification of tech rules after DSA review (Euractiv)
• Inside Europe's 'Jekyll and Hyde' tech strategy (Digital Policy)
• NetChoice sues Virginia to block its one-hour social media limit for kids (The Verge)
• Tech Giants Sue California Over Social Media Access Law (2) (Bloomberg Law)
• TikTok to give users power to reduce amount of AI content on their feeds (The Guardian)
• The Most Frustrating Word for Trust & Safety Professionals (LinkedIn)

Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast from Techdirt and Everything in Moderation. Send us your feedback at podcast@ctrlaltspeech.com and sponsorship enquiries to sponsorship@ctrlaltspeech.com. Thanks for listening.

In this week’s roundup of the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Ben is joined by Kenji Yoshino, who has the excellent title of Chief Justice Earl Warren Professor of Constitutional Law at New York University School of Law and the Director of the Meltzer Center for Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging. Kenji is also a member of the Oversight Board. Together Ben and Kenji discuss:

• ‘Andrew Tate is dead’: inside the minds of 16-year-olds (The Observer)
• Introducing the Teen Safety Blueprint (OpenAI)
• OpenAI unveils blueprint for teen AI safety standards (Axios)
• OpenAI Faces Legal Storm Over Claims Its AI Drove Users to Suicide, Delusions (KQED)
• Irish watchdog opens content moderation probe into Elon Musk's X (Euractiv)

This episode is brought to you by our sponsor CCIA, an international, not-for-profit trade association representing a broad cross section of communications and technology firms and that promotes open markets, open systems, and open networks.

Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast from Techdirt and Everything in Moderation. Send us your feedback at podcast@ctrlaltspeech.com and sponsorship enquiries to sponsorship@ctrlaltspeech.com. Thanks for listening.