The Trust & Safety Teaching Consortium is a coalition of academic, industry and non-profit experts in online trust and safety problems. Our goal is to create content that can be used to teach a variety of audiences about trust and safety issues in a wide variety of formats.
We are sharing a 13-module reading list and associated slide decks, recorded lectures, and exercises. We created these materials in 2023. We encourage instructors to review the resources to ensure they are up to date at the time of use. Note: The slide decks frequently reference readings from the reading list.
The teaching content we created covers sensitive topics, and instructors should carefully review materials before assigning them. Instructors should consider what content warnings they want to apply and what content might not be appropriate for their audience. Many Consortium members tell students what sensitive topics will be covered and when, and they give students the option to skip sensitive classes (or walk out in the middle of class) and skip associated readings without penalty.
If you are interested in helping to create teaching content, email trustandsafetyjournal@stanford.edu to join the Consortium.
We encourage you to use this content for your class; please just email to let us know how you are using the resources so we can track our impact.
Reading List
Slide Decks and Exercises
- Camille François (Columbia University; Niantic Labs); Mariana Olaizola Rosenblat (NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights); Matthew Soeth (All Tech is Human / Tremau); Alex Stamos (Stanford Internet Observatory); Shelby Grossman (Stanford Internet Observatory); Inbal Goldberger (ActiveFence)
Introduction to Trust and Safety (Google Slides - last updated fall 2023) (Latex Slides - last updated summer 2023) (Full-Course Exercise) (20 minute lecture on intelligence in trust and safety by Inbal Goldberger, ActiveFence)
- Karen Maxim
- Supplementary slide deck: Copyright Safe Harbors and the DMCA by Justin Francese (University of Oregon) (Google Slides)
Government Regulation (Google Slides) (Latex Slides)
- Inbal Goldberger (ActiveFence); Alex Leavitt (Roblox; UC Berkeley); Charu Pokhriyal (Teleperformance); Hill Stark (ActiveFence); James Gresham (Tripadvisor)
Metrics and Measurement (Google Slides - last updated fall 2023) (Latex Slides - last updated summer 2023) (Exercises)
- Joseph Seering (KAIST); Aparna S. Balasundaram (WIPRO); Bindiya L. Raghunath (WIPRO); Jayshree Sarda (WIPRO)
Content Moderation (Google Slides) (Latex Slides - only includes first 37 slides from Google Slides deck) (Exercises)
- Kevin Aslett (University of Central Florida); Brian Murphy (Georgetown University); Sarah Shirazyan (Stanford Law School)
Information Environment (Google Slides) (Latex Slides) (45 minute lecture on misinforamtion by Sarah Shirazyan, Stanford Law School)
- Marten Risius (University of Queensland); Mariana Olaizola Rosenblat (NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights); Theodora Skeadas (Tech Policy Consulting); Inga Trauthig (The University of Texas at Austin); Mark Schneider
Terrorism, Radicalization, and Extremism (Google Slides - last updated fall 2023) (Latex Slides - last updated summer 2023) (Exercises) (30 minute lecture on terrorism, radicalization, and extremism by Marten Risius, University of Queensland)
- Ina Kamenova (University of Massachusetts Lowell); Q. J. Yao (Lamar University, Texas); Mark Schneider (University of Pennsylvania); Theodora Skeadas
Harassment and Hate Speech (Google Slides) (Latex Slides) (Exercises) (25 minute lecture on online hate speech by Mark Schneider, University of Pennsylvania)
- Caroline Humer (International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children); Leslie Taylor (Genpact)
Child and Adult Sexual Exploitation (Google Slides) (Exercises)
- Katherine Keyes (Columbia University); Alex Leavitt (Roblox; UC Berkeley); Elena Cryst (Stanford Internet Observatory); Kathleen Boehle (Securly); Ina Kamenova (University of Massachusetts Lowell)
Suicide, Self-Harm, and Well-Being (Google Slides - last updated fall 2023) (Exercises) (45 minute lecture from Katherine Keyes, Columbia University)
- Lee Foster (Alperovitch Institute for Cybersecurity Studies at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies); Tabea Wilke (Twincler); Charu Pokhriyal (Teleperformance); Kashyap Puranik
Authentication, Identity, and Platform Manipulation (Google Slides) (Exercises)
- Alex Leavitt (Roblox; UC Berkeley); Charu Pokhriyal (Teleperformance)
Types of Attack Surfaces (Google Slides) (Exercises)
- Michael Swenson (Meta); Amar Ashar (Berkman Klein Center)
Teaching Consortium Members Teaching Online Safety in the 2023-2024 Academic Year
- Kevin Aslett, University of Central Florida
- Politics of Online Security
- Olga Belogolova, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies
- Influence Operations in the Digital Age
- Lee Foster, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies
- Threat Intelligence for Information Operations
- Camille François, Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs
- Introduction to Trust & Safety
- Justin Francese, University of Oregon
- Communication Law J385
- Beth Goldberg, Yale University
- Misinformation in the Age of AI
- Inbal Goldberger, ActiveFence
- NYU - ActiveFence Trust & Safety Academy
- Shelby Grossman, Stanford Internet Observatory
- Trust and Safety Engineering
- Jeff Hancock, Stanford Internet Observatory
- Trust and Safety Engineering
- Laura McLester, The University of Alabama at Birmingham
- Digital Safety
- Lisa Schirch, University of Notre Dame
- Peacetech and Digital Peacebuilding
- Joseph Seering, KAIST
- Trust and Safety Engineering and Practice
- Sarah Shirazyan, Stanford Law School
- Confronting Misinformation Online: Law and Policy
- Alex Stamos, Stanford Internet Observatory
- Trust and Safety Engineering
Example Course Descriptions
- Laura McLester: Digital Safety, course description
- Alex Stamos, Jeff Hancock, Shelby Grossman: Trust and Safety Engineering, course description