Fay Johnson is an expert in the field of Trust & Safety. Johnson’s tenure combines deep expertise in behavioral science with hands-on experience in product development, content moderation, and online safety at leading technology companies including Meta, Twitter, and Nextdoor.

Johnson has designed and implemented systems that promote respectful interactions, fairness, and community trust, shaping how billions of people engage online. While at Meta, Fay was the product lead on designing and building the Oversight Board, and its integration into the broader Facebook ecosystem.

She is currently a fellow at Harvard University’s Berkman Klein Institute for Internet and Society where she is doing applied research and product development focused on depolarization and increasing civility in online discourse.

During our chat, we discussed Meta’s decision to cut back on Fact Checking, which includes both long-term and short-term consequences.

We also dove into the roles of platforms like Meta, Twitter, and Nextdoor – specifically, if they have any moral or ethical responsibility with their Tenants and Conditions.

We then talked specifically about some of the lessons she learned while running her product teams, and what the future may hold for these platforms with technology and systems like AI and Community Notes as possible remedies for what ails our online communities.

I hope you learn as much as I did from Fay.

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Tobias Rose-Stockwell is a writer, technologist and media researcher who explores the effects of social media on society and democracy. His work has been featured in major outlets such as FastCompany, Quartz, Medium, NPR, the BBC and many others. As a media researcher, he has advised the directors of Gannett, one of the largest news organizations in America, as well as local news outlets in the US, on digital strategy. Tobias was previously a guest lecturer at Stanford University on the topic of social enterprise design and technology ventures. He is currently a strategic advisor to Jonathan Haidt's organization, OpenMind, which focuses on depolarizing communities online.

During our chat, we talked at length about his new book: Outrage Machine: How Tech Amplifies Discontent, Disrupts Democracy―And What We Can Do About It.

The topics discussed include all of the usual suspects: Are our phones hurting our children? Has social media retrained our brains? Have algorithms remapped our chosen content? How is technology changing the industry of journalism and our democracy at large?

I had a wonderful time learning from Tobias, and I hope you also enjoy hearing about his story…and his decades-long focus on how technology is changing our world.

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Joe Hack spent 12 years as a senior advisor in both the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives, including more than six years as Chief of Staff to U.S. Senator Deb Fischer (NE).

Prior to that, he worked for Senate Whip Jon Kyl as Communications Director and chief spokesman. Joe is also a veteran of the U.S. House of Representatives, where he served as Press Secretary and Legislative Assistant for Rep. J. Randy Forbes (VA-04). He began his career in the office of Senator George Voinovich (OH)

During this episode of Joey Squared, we talk about The Alphabet People, our beloved LGBTQ+ community, and why they are not a monolith, nor should they be treated as one.

We then talked at length about one of my favorite journalists, Nellie Bowles and her new book, Morning After the Revolution: Dispatches from the Wrong Side of History - and why it was such a romping good read.

Nellie’s collections of stories proved to be a wickedly funny treatise about the ideological capture of her former colleagues and editors at The New York Times. And Joey and I use her witty and engaging stories as a cursor to our discussions about the fringe left of my party, and how their narratives and messaging are being widely rejected by the majority of Americans today.

I hope you enjoy this episode as much as we did.

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