FOSI 2022 Annual Conference
Overview
Trust & Assurance: Online Safety in an Uncertain World
Trust & Assurance: Online Safety in an Uncertain World
On November 14th, FOSI hosted its first in-person Annual Conference since 2019. Entitled “Trust & Assurance: Online Safety in an Uncertain World,” this event featured discussions about the increasing importance of trust and safety work across the tech industry as well as the seismic impact that age assurance processes will have on apps and services we use every day. The day featured leaders from the public, private, academic, and nonprofit sectors speaking about children’s rights, content moderation, the intersection of privacy and safety, mental health and wellbeing, parenting in a digital world, and much more.
Tami Bhaumik, Vice President of Civility and Partnerships at Roblox, and Chair of the FOSI Board, started the day by giving a welcome address and Stephen Balkam gave opening remarks.
The morning began with the release of FOSI’s new research, “Making Sense of Age Assurance: Enabling Safer Online Experiences,” conducted by Kantar and made possible through support from Google. Chris Carbone and Jillian Domin of Kantar presented highlights from the research, which surveyed children and parents across the US, UK, and France. Some key findings included the high level of engagement and responsibility that parents feel in managing their kids’ online experiences, the attitudes of kids and parents toward the use of biometric components in age assurance methods, and balancing the tradeoff between effectiveness and invasiveness.
After presenting the research, Carbone joined Almudena Lara of Google and Julie Dawson of Yoti for a conversation to further discuss the report, moderated by Tim Sparapani of SPQR Strategies. The panel dug deeper into the findings of the report, and discussed their implications on companies’ efforts to determine user age in order to provide age appropriate experiences, as well as how governments can weave age assurance requirements into their online safety policy work.
Following a short networking break, the first plenary session featured parents discussing how they navigate their kids’ digital lives. Catherine Teitelbaum of Amazon Kids moderated the conversation with Avi Greengart of Techsponential, Kerry Gallagher of St. John’s Prep and ConnectSafely, Alicia Blum-Ross of Twitch, and Terrell and Jarius Joseph, who are parents and influencers. The discussion covered many phases of childhood from establishing healthy tech habits for young children to how to have difficult conversations about navigating all aspects of online life with teenagers. The panelists highlighted certain online safety features, helpful resources developed for families, and personal tips for how to thrive as a modern family with unique digital lives.
The morning breakout sessions gave attendees the option to attend one of four distinct panel discussions. One explored the impact of technology on child development through each developmental cycle of a child’s life and how teachers, parents, and caregivers can navigate tech use through the formative years. Another focused on children’s rights from a global perspective, discussing the importance of online privacy and safety, but also fun and learning in young peoples’ lives. A third panel highlighted many trust and safety challenges online platforms face today and discussed federal and state policies that target some of these challenges, including content moderation. The final morning breakout panel covered online gaming, and discussed new developments in the gaming world from apps to consoles and new safety controls, as well as game design, age ratings, streaming platforms, and educational opportunities.
After lunch and time for attendees to network and view the exhibit booths, the afternoon breakout sessions began. One covered mental health and digital wellbeing and highlighted existing research, as well as the need for much more research in this space, and panelists discussed the nuanced benefits and risks that young people face online. The policy panel discussed the challenges and opportunities of regulating online safety and privacy, highlighting the many legislative efforts in the US right now as well as examining international efforts to include safety and privacy by design and designing age-appropriate online experiences. A third panel featured a diverse group of tech companies discussing their innovative solutions to online safety including family settings and parental controls, curated content targeted to make a positive impact in young peoples’ lives, and more. And the fourth breakout panel discussed media literacy in schools, government and industry efforts to close the digital divide including the Affordable Connectivity Program, and the necessity for access to resources and support for consumers of all ages to better equip all members of the family in identifying misinformation and disinformation.
The afternoon plenary sessions began with a featured conversation between Dr. Shairi Turner of Crisis Text Line and Savannah Badalich of Discord. They discussed how teens and young people use Discord to communicate with friends, family, and find communities, and shared internal research about how teens reach out for help in digital spaces, with the goal of providing the right people and resources in the right places to those online who may be struggling with mental health.
The next plenary session included a fireside chat between Tracy Elizabeth of TikTok and a father-daughter duo of content creators, Billy and Dru Perry. This conversation covered a range of topics including how parents can engage with the same apps, sites, and platforms as their kids, finding common ground when disagreeing, and having honest family conversations around online habits and healthy digital lives.
After a brief break, FTC Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya delivered remarks from the main stage. He discussed protecting teens’ mental health through better privacy protections, designing products and experiences in the best interest of a child, and improving expertise within regulatory bodies (including hiring child psychologists in law enforcement and at the FTC).
The penultimate panel discussed the metaverse and immersive online experiences. David Ryan Polgar of All Tech is Human moderated the conversation that featured Tami Bhaumik of Roblox, Stephanie Montgomery of the XRA, Kristina Podnar of XRSI, and Dr. Louis Rosenberg of Unanimous AI. The panel presented optimism about the future of technology and online interaction, and discussed the opportunities for industry, policymakers, parents, and advocates to cooperate, collaborate, and create technology and online spaces we would all want to engage with.
The final panel of the day featured the announcement of the newly formed Global Online Safety Regulators Network. The four founding members of the network, Celene Craig of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, Dame Melanie Dawes of the UK’s Ofcom, Julie Inman Grant, Australia’s eSafety Commissioner, and Mary Motofaga of Fiji’s Online Safety Commission were joined by FOSI’s Stephen Balkam to discuss the network, what they hope to accomplish, how other countries can join and collaborate, and the prospects of a safer global Internet.
Video recordings of the plenary sessions are available on the FOSI YouTube channel.
Photos from the event can be found on the Event Media Gallery.
Speakers
Shanta Arul
As a global public policy leader at Netflix, Shanta focuses on digital and media policy issues including online protection of minors, ratings & classification, accessibility and technology ethics. She has also in previous roles at the company led strategic policy initiatives & campaigns, industry development efforts, regulatory advocacy, and industry relations across the Asia Pacific region.
Charlotte Aynsley
Charlotte has a broad range of experience in the field of digital safeguarding - for 10 years she led Becta's advice and support to Government, local authorities and schools on keeping children safe online. She also worked with Dr Tanya Byron on her review of Safer Children in a Digital World - leading the implementation and co-ordination of the education recommendations in the Review as part of the UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS).
Savannah Badalich
Savannah Badalich is the Senior Director, Policy at Discord. Her role focuses on ensuring belonging for Discord's communities through content policy, responsible product development, and public policy. She previously worked at Twitter as a Sr. Product Trust Partner in Trust & Safety, where she led work to build healthy recommendation systems and policies. Prior to Twitter, her work centered around human rights advocacy, anti-violence organizing, and civic tech development.
Dr. Kara Bagot
Kara Bagot, MD, is the Medical Director of the Addiction Institute of Mount Sinai's strategic alliance with the Center on Addiction. Dr. Bagot is a child and adolescent psychiatrist, and her research background is in adolescent substance use disorders (SUDs) and overlapping childhood psychopathology. She completed her adult and child and adolescent psychiatry and clinical research training at Yale University School of Medicine Child Study Center. Dr. Bagot's current work focuses on the effects of technology (e.g. social media, video gaming, internet use) on development of SUDs and psychiatric illness in children and adolescents, and ways to use mobile and digital technologies to improve assessment, monitoring, and treatment of SUDs in adolescents.
Stephen Balkam
For the past 30 years, Stephen Balkam has had a wide range of leadership roles in the nonprofit sector in the both the US and UK. He is currently the Founder and CEO of the Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI), an international, nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, DC. FOSI's mission is to make the online world safer for kids and their families.
Alvaro Bedoya
Alvaro Bedoya was sworn in May 16, 2022 as a Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission. President Joe Biden named Bedoya to a term that expires on Sept. 25, 2026. Bedoya was the founding director of the Center on Privacy & Technology at Georgetown University Law Center, where he was also a visiting professor of law. He has been influential in research and policy at the intersection of privacy and civil rights, and co-authored a 2016 report on the use of facial recognition by law enforcement and the risks that it poses to privacy, civil liberties, and civil rights. He previously served as the first Chief Counsel to the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law after its founding in 2011, and Chief Counsel to former Senator Al Franken, of Minnesota. Prior to that, he was an associate at the law firm WilmerHale. A naturalized immigrant born in Peru and raised in upstate New York, Bedoya previously co-founded the Esperanza Education Fund, a college scholarship for immigrant students in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia. He also served on the Board of Directors of the Hispanic Bar Association of the District of Columbia. Bedoya graduated summa cum laude from Harvard College and holds a J.D. from Yale Law School, where he served on the Yale Law Journal and received the Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans. He lives in Rockville, Maryland with his wife, Dr. Sima Z. Bedoya of Louisiana, a pediatric psychologist at the National Institutes of Health's National Cancer Institute. They have two toddlers.
Tami Bhaumik
Tami Bhaumik is the Vice President of Civility and Partnerships at Roblox where she spearheads the platform's digital civility initiative and works to foster a global community of internet safety leaders to ensure good digital citizenship on Roblox. To establish a healthy and safe community, Tami is focused on providing kids, teens, parents, and caregivers with skills needed to create positive online experiences, in partnership with the world's leading safety and industry organizations. At Roblox, she empowers platform users to self-govern and create a confident, resilient online community with the knowledge and tools to create positive experiences for themselves and others in the metaverse.
Alicia Blum-Ross
Alicia recently joined Twitch, a livestreaming platform owned by Amazon, as the Senior Director for Global Youth Policy. Prior to coming to Twitch she worked at YouTube where she helped create resources to support families like the YouTube parental supervised experience and Best Practices for family creators. Before working in the tech industry she was an academic and media literacy educator, and co-authored (with Sonia Livingstone) the book Parenting for a Digital Future: How Hopes and Fears About Technology Shape Children's Lives. She's given talks for parents and caregivers in outlets like NPR, the BBC and more PTA meetings than she'd care to admit. She is currently trying to put her own advice into practice raising 9 year old twins in the Bay Area.
Mindy Brooks
Mindy is the General Manager for Google's kids and family initiative. Mindy and her team work to create safe and enriching experiences for children, teens and their families globally. Responsible for creating Googlewide strategic agendas, Mindy has also been instrumental in launching many products such as Google Accounts for kids under 13, Family Link, the Teacher Approved program on Google Play, and Android's first kid directed product, Google Kids Space. Prior to Google, Mindy worked at Netflix and Sesame Street, most recently as Director of Content and Innovation Research. Mindy holds a BA in Psychology and a MA in Applied Developmental and Educational psychology from New York University.
Janell Burley Hofmann
Janell Burley Hofmann is the author of iRules: What Every Tech Healthy Family Needs to Know, International Speaker, Facilitator and Consultant. Founder of iRules Academy & The Slow Tech Movement. Mother of Five.
Bennett Butler
Bennett Butler serves as a Policy Advisor to Senator Edward J. Markey and manages Senator Markey's work on the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. He holds degrees from Princeton University and the University of Chicago.
Jasmina Byrne
Jasmina Byrne is Chief of Foresight and Policy in UNICEF with over 25 years of experience in global research and policy development. She leads UNICEF's work on analysis of global trends and anticipatory policy in areas such as digital technologies, public governance, society and the environment. Previously, she managed UNICEF's Office of Research portfolio on children and digital technologies, child rights and child protection. Jasmina's interests in digital issues span the period of 15 years through conducting research, policy innovation and advocacy on behalf of children. She was one of the creators and leads of Global Kids Online, a multi-country research initiative on children's use of digital technologies, and the lead of UNICEF's data governance initiative. She has authored and co-authored several studies and policy documents on children's use of digital technologies, internet governance and digital civic engagement including co-authoring UNICEF's Manifesto on Children's Data Governance.
Chris Carbone
Chris leads the Futures Practice at Kantar in North America, helping clients make sense of emerging trends and consumer behaviors to identify innovation opportunities and feel more confident about their strategic decisions. Chris has an MBA from The Johns Hopkins University, and a BA in History from Gettysburg College.
Michelle Ciulla Lipkin
Michelle Ciulla Lipkin is the Executive Director of the National Association for Media Literacy Education. Michelle has helped NAMLE grow to be the preeminent media literacy education association in the U.S. She launched the first ever Media Literacy Week in the U.S. now in its 7th year, developed strategic partnerships with companies such as Thomson Reuters, Facebook, Twitter, and Nickelodeon, and restructured both the governance and membership of NAMLE. She has overseen four national conferences and done countless appearances at conferences and in the media regarding the importance of media literacy education. Michelle is an alumni of the U.S. Dept. of State's International Visitors Program (Australia/2018). She is currently an Adjunct Lecturer at Brooklyn College where she teaches Media Literacy.
Celene Craig
Celene Craig is Chief Executive Officer of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI), having taken up the post in June 2021. Prior to this appointment, she held the role of Deputy Chief Executive with the Authority since its establishment in 2009. With over 30 years' experience in media regulation, she also worked with the BAI's predecessors, the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) and the Independent Radio and Television Commission (IRTC).Â
Julie Dawson
Julie leads regulatory and government relations, steers ethics framework development liaising closely with the Yoti Guardians Council, and prepares Yoti for external accreditations - such as ISO 27001, HIPAA, BCorps for ethics and transparency and the SOC2 security accreditation.Yoti is an identity checking system that allows organisations to verify who people are, online and in person. Yoti has a team of over 300 based in London, with offices in Mumbai and present in the US, Canada and Australia. We count over 11 million installs of the Yoti app, following our launch in November 2017. For consumers, it's an app that helps them prove who they are and confirm the identities of others. We distinguish ourselves with our approach to privacy and security; the system has been architected so that it's impossible for us to monetise users personal data.Julie serves on a number of Boards - WEF Digital Identity Innovators & Global Coalition for Digital Safety, member of the IEEE Children's Advisory Group, the OSTIA Online Safety Tech Industry Association and the techUK digital identity and Public Sector Board.
Dame Melanie Dawes
Dame Melanie Dawes joined Ofcom as an Executive Board Member and Chief Executive in March 2020. Prior to joining Ofcom, Melanie was Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government from 2015. She has held a range of senior roles across the Civil Service, working in partnership across the public and private sector, including as Champion for Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion. She started her career as an economist and spent 15 years at the Treasury, including as Europe Director between 2002 and 2006. She was Director General of the Economic and Domestic Affairs Secretariat at the Cabinet Office between 2011 and 2015, and prior to that she served on the Board of HMRC. As Director General for Business Tax she had responsibility for all the business taxes and duties alongside leadership of the department's relationships with the largest companies. Melanie has held various non-executive roles including with the consumer body Which? and is a trustee of the Patchwork Foundation, which helps under-represented young people get involved in democracy.
Sara DePaul
Sara DePaul is an Assistant Vice President for Global Public Policy at AT&T, where she is responsible for developing and coordinating public policy positions on privacy and consumer protection issues at the state and international level. She also leads the company's public policy engagement on Artificial Intelligence, children's privacy and online safety, health data privacy, and other emerging privacy and consumer protection issues. Prior to joining AT&T, Sara served as Associate General Counsel and Senior Director for Technology Policy at the Software & Information Industry Association and advocated the association's global public policy positions on privacy, data security, cross-border data flows, among other issues. She previously worked at the Federal Trade Commission as Counsel for International Consumer Protection in the Office of International Affairs, Counsel to the Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection, and as a Regional Office Attorney. Sara is located in Washington, D.C.
Jillian Domin
Jillian is part of Kantar North America's Qualitative Executive leadership team and in that capacity, helps clients to address their thorniest business questions by fueling their decisions and strategy with a human perspective. With over 20 years of research industry experience, Jillian has touched a wide range of industries including tech, entertainment, consumer products, retail, children's toys, and gaming. Her consultation with some of the world's most influential brands has ranged from moderating conversations with everyone from preschoolers to GenZs, and their parents to strategically leading her team in research best practices, design and reporting. She is known for laser-focused insights designed to answer client questions supported by not only research but cultural and societal context. Jillian, a California native, now resides in Northeastern Pennsylvania with her husband and 11-year-old twins who love to test the limits of their screen time. Jillian has a BA in Marketing from California State University Fullerton.
TJ Donovan
TJ Donovan is the Director of Public Policy & US State Strategy for Roblox. He previously served as Attorney General for the State of Vermont as well as Chittenden County (Vermont) State's Attorney. He lives in Vermont with his wife and two kids.
Tracy Elizabeth
Tracy Elizabeth is TikTok's Head of Issue Policy, Trust & Safety. She oversees the Minor Safety, Integrity & Authenticity, Harassment & Bullying, Content Classification and Applied Research teams to ensure TikTok's policies are designed to keep youth safe and to catalog content based on age-appropriateness. Tracy holds a doctorate in Adolescent Development and a masters in Risk & Prevention from Harvard University. Prior to TikTok, Tracy managed Netflix's Kids & Family Metadata team and helped establish Netflix's Global Maturity Ratings department. She is a former elementary school teacher, turned entertainment tech enthusiast. Tracy specializes in designing media that bolster kids' and teens' social, emotional, and academic well-being. Most importantly, Tracy is the mother of a little girl who is growing up in a media world.
Stacy Feuer
As senior vice president of ESRB Privacy Certified (EPC), Stacy ensures that member companies in the video game and toy industries adopt and maintain lawful and responsible data collection and privacy policies and practices for their websites, mobile apps, and online services. She oversees compliance with ESRB's privacy certifications, including its "Kids Certified" seal, which is an approved Safe Harbor program under the Federal Trade Commission's Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) Rule.
Kerry Gallagher
Kerry Gallagher, JD is an innovative teacher, school administrator, lawyer, TEDx speaker, keynote speaker, education consultant, downhill skier, hiker, mom, and wife. She has 23 years of experience as a professional educator. Kerry currently serves as Assistant Principal for Teaching and Learning and classroom teacher at St. John's Preparatory School in Danvers, Massachusetts; and Director of Education at ConnectSafely, an internet safety non-profit in Palo Alto, California. Kerry is co-author of several ConnectSafely award-winning guidebooks for parents and teachers on topics that include social media, data privacy, education technology, copyright, and more. Accolades for her work include awards from the Family Online Safety Institute, St. Anselm College, MassCUE, SmartBrief, and Tech&Learning. She's been recognized as a FutureReady Schools Instructional Coach, ASCD Emerging Leader, Adobe Education Leader, PBS LearningMedia Digital Innovator, and EdSurge Columnist. Her passions include digital wellness, innovative professional learning, and effective integration of curriculum, pedagogy, and technology. She is on social media @KerryHawk02.
Julie Inman Grant
Julie Inman Grant is Australia's eSafety Commissioner. In this role, Julie leads the world's first government regulatory agency committed to keeping its citizens safer online. The Commissioner's career began at the US Congress in Washington, DC before joining Microsoft, where Julie spent 17 years in various corporate affairs roles. At Twitter, she set up the company's policy and philanthropy programs across Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia, before driving Asia–Pacific-wide government relations for Adobe. As eSafety Commissioner since January 2017, Julie has overseen a significant expansion of eSafety's regulatory responsibilities under the Online Safety Act and increased staffing levels. She has alsolaunched innovative programs such as the Safety by Design and Women in the Spotlight initiatives. She has also established herself as a nimble and anticipatory regulator, establishing the innovative tech trends horizon scanning program in 2020. Julie serves on the Advisory Board of the Technology Policy Design Centre. She served as co-founder and inaugural chair of the Global Online Safety Regulators Network and is a long-serving Board Member of the WePROTECT Global Alliance. She also serves on the World Economic Forum's Global Coalition for Digital Safety; represents Australia on the Global Partnership for Action on Gender-Based Harassment and Abuse, and serves on France's Laboratory for Women's Rights Online.
Alexandra Reeve Givens
Alexandra Reeve Givens is CDT's President & CEO, and an advocate for using technology to increase equality, amplify voices, and promote human rights. At CDT, Alex leads a diverse team that is putting democracy and individual rights at the center of the digital revolution.
Avi Greengart
Avi Greengart is the President and Lead Analyst at Techsponential, a market research and advisory firm. Techsponential helps technology companies, carriers, and retailers sell more effectively by understanding tech adoption patterns, managing the competitive environment, and improving product launches. Greengart focuses on three key technology platforms: smartphones and computing, the digital home, and AR/VR. Greengart has been a featured speaker at CES, Mobile World Congress, CTIA, SXSW, NAB, and other shows and corporate events. He is quoted regularly in print and on camera, and has been a featured guest on podcasts. Outlets include The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Verge, AP, AFP, Reuters, NPR, Marketplace, CNBC, CNET, Fox News, ABC Radio, USA Today, and many more. His columns and reviews have been featured in Fast Company, Slashgear, tech.pinions, Sound & Vision, and RCR Wireless. Greengart has a B.A. in English Literature from Yeshiva University where he was a Belkin Scholar, and attended Seton Hall's Stillman School of Business. Greengart is based in Northern New Jersey and is available for meetings in New York City. He tweets as @greengart.
Jamie Gregory
Jamie Gregory is the Upper School librarian and journalism/newspaper teacher at Christ Church Episcopal School in Greenville, SC. She was a high school English teacher for her first 8 years in education and has been working as a school librarian for the past 10 years. She is the 2022 South Carolina School Librarian of the Year, 2022 Library Journal Mover & Shaker, 2022 Eli M. Oboler Memorial Award recipient, 2022 News Literacy Project Alan C. Miller Educator of the Year, and 2021 NAMLE Media Literacy Teacher Award recipient.
Keyla Hernandez-Ulloa
Keyla Hernandez-Ulloa has been the Associate Division Chief for the Federal Communication Commission's Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau's Consumer Affairs and Outreach Division since 2011. In this capacity, she provides strategic leadership with regards to planning, developing and managing the Division's consumer-facing outreach efforts and agency-wide projects as assigned. From March 2015 to June 2016, and then again from January to June 2018, she served as Acting Deputy Chief managing several leadership transitions. Previously, she served as the Division's Outreach and Policy Advisor responsible for communicating information regarding Commission rules, policy, programs and activities and developing and implementing consumer outreach and education policies, goals and objectives targeted to consumers at the federal, state, and local levels.
Jennifer Ihegword
Jennifer is the Director of Data Privacy at Mattel, where she is the head of the Privacy Office in Mattel's technology organization. There, she leads global technology and operations initiatives to implement privacy and data protection safeguards across the organization. She is instrumental in ensuring privacy is at the forefront of design of all Mattel toys and products and is a key tenet to the value proposition offered to customers.Prior to this role, Jennifer was in management consulting, working with senior leadership of some of the largest media & entertainment, communications, and technology companies in the world, to create and refine their Big Data and general data governance programs. She additionally worked on many marketing and analytics projects, helping her to develop a well-rounded approach to, and further bolster her interest in, data privacy. Jennifer graduated from THE University of Texas at Austin with both a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and a Bachelor of Arts in Theater and Radio, Television, and Film. She received her MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management. She has always had major interest in technology, and the intersection of it and children's play and development. She is also passionate about inspiring Black girls to use their voices in innovative and creative ways, including in technology.
Terrell and Jarius Joseph
Terrell and Jarius are millennial gay dads raising their two darling toddlers in Atlanta, GA. The couple met freshman year of college at a haunted house and got engaged exactly two years following. They bought their first home in 2015 when they were just out of college at the age of 22 and immediately sought a surrogate to start their family before the dynamic duo exchanged vows in 2017. Their unconventional journey has been a beacon of hope for the LGBTQIA+ community, and their mission has been steadfast in breaking stigmas and stereotypes around same-sex parenting. They made history on the reboot of Wife Swap as the first gay couple to swap families in an effort to educate viewers on misconceptions and discriminations they face. They are vocal about social injustice, civic duty, and sharing their story on what is means to belong to two vulnerable communities as gay Black men. You can find them on Instagram at @terrell.and.jarius.
Ashley Johnson
Ashley Johnson is a senior policy analyst at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. She researches and writes about Internet policy issues such as privacy, security, and platform regulation. She was previously at Software.org: the BSA Foundation and holds a master's degree in security policy from The George Washington University and a bachelor's degree in sociology from Brigham Young University.
Anup Kaneri
As Vice President of Worldwide Products, Anup Kaneri leads the Product Management team across Smith Micro. His expertise in product innovation and extensive experience building direct-to-consumer products play a key role in supporting Smith Micro to achieve its goals. Before joining Smith Micro in 2019, Anup worked for venture capital, where he managed enabling investments in emerging areas balancing strategic potential with technology and financial discipline. He formerly worked at Fortune 50 companies to lead the product innovation, development, and strategy to bring new technology solutions to the market. He also co-founded two successful startups focusing on building disruptive mobile platforms. Anup holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electronics &Telecommunication Engineering, a Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing Management from Pune, India, and an MBA from the University of Pittsburgh.
Jim Kohlenberger
Jim Kohlenberger is a national technology and innovation policy leader who has long been at the forefront of national policy initiatives to harness innovation to improve people's lives as technology policy advisor to two U.S. Presidents, and through a series of national initiatives. In the Obama White House, he served as Chief of Staff for the Office of Science and Technology Policy where he helped the administration drive a transformative innovation policy agenda, advised the President's national cybersecurity review, put our nation's space program on a bolder trajectory, helped initiate the President's mobile broadband initiative, and championed new presidential initiatives around scientific integrity and open data.
Almudena Lara
Almudena is the global lead on child safety public policy at Google, where she leads work on protecting children from child sexual abuse and exploitation and providing safe experiences to children across products. She joined Google from the NSPCC, the UK's largest child protection charity, where she led the public policy team and championed key legal reform to ensure better protections for children. Almudena is a Board member at the Tech Coalition, a cross industry collaboration to drive critical advances in technology and adoption of best practices for keeping children safe online, and chairs the INHOPE Network advisory board to support advancements in awareness and reporting of child sexual abuse material.
Kelly Leahy
Kelly Leahy is a unique professional bridging research, development and production in educational media and educational technology. Her expertise is applying educational research to the most highly engaging forms of media. Leahy has developed and produced broadcast and digital media for a variety of highly-lauded organizations, including PBS, iCivics, Nickelodeon and Discovery. Many projects included in her professional portfolio have massive distribution (3M+) and balance educational design and curricular goals with high engagement, cultural implications and media literacy. Leahy's research applies a cultural and developmental lens to media, with special interests in educational technology, digital games and toys, mobile technologies, television and web content. She researched participatory media and cultural shifts related to emerging technologies at Harvard University and MIT, and has spoken on digital and game-based learning at conferences such as SXSW and the National Book Festival, as well as at universities ranging from American University to the London School of Economics. She has served on advisory boards and panels for the White House, the Library of Congress and the American Association of Pediatrics, among others. Her service work includes volunteering for national and local organizations, such as four years on the board of directors for the National Association for Media Literacy Education and two years on the Skaneateles Education Foundation, where she is board president. Leahy earned a master's and doctor of education degrees from Harvard University, and was awarded the Fred Rogers Memorial Scholarship by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for her dissertation research. She is proud to be an alumna of both the Northwestern University School of Communication and the American School of Paris.
Sonia Livingstone
Sonia Livingstone DPhil (Oxon), OBE, FBA, FBPS, FAcSS, FRSA, is a professor in the Department of Media and Communications at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Dr. Melissa Mercado
Dr. Melissa C. Mercado is a Lead Behavioral Scientist in the Division of Violence Prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. As an expert in youth and community violence, and bullying prevention, she is part of the federal inter-agency StopBullying.gov Editorial Board, and oversees the CDC Youth Violence Prevention Centers' network. Dr. Mercado served in the internationally recognized Epidemic Intelligence Service, leads gaming and online communities' research for violence prevention, and recently completed her tenure as an elected member of the CDC Latino/Hispanic Health Work Group Executive Committee.
Lauren Merk
Lauren Merk is a Policy Counsel on FPF's Youth & Education Privacy team where she contributes to FPF's ongoing work relating to child and student privacy. She previously worked on the Youth & Education team as a law student contractor and then as a fellow. Lauren earned her Juris Doctor from the University of Cincinnati College of Law. During law school, Lauren was involved with the University of Cincinnati Intellectual Property and Computer Law Journal as an Associate Member and Executive Editor. She was also a fellow with the UC Corporate Law Center and interned with the Center's Entrepreneurship and Community Development Clinic. Additionally, she volunteered at the Hamilton County Municipal Court Help Center and completed a federal judicial externship at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio. Prior to law school, Lauren attended Butler University where she majored in Strategic Communication and minored in Marketing. Lauren is a member of the International Association of Privacy Professionals and holds a CIPP/US certification.
Stephanie Montgomery
Stephanie Montgomery serves as the XR Association's Vice President of Research and Best Practices. In this position, Montgomery oversees the implementation of XRA's research agenda, development of its catalogue of industry-leading best practices, and management of its Health and Inclusion committees. Montgomery previously served as the Vice President of Technology and Standards at the Telecommunications Industry Association where she worked with national and international bodies to develop standards driving the adoption of ICT technology. Montgomery is a recipient of the ANSI Meritorious Service Award and received her B.A. from Hood College.
Mary Motofaga
Acting Commissioner for the Online Safety Commission (OSC), Mary is an executive leader of Fiji's only established Commission that is dedicated to developing a safe online culture for all Fijians. The OSC started operations in 2019 with the commencement of the Online Safety Act 2018 and gives individuals a space to resolve concerns and complaints with respect to online abuse such as cyberbullying and image based abuse. The OSC also promotes online safety through community awareness programs, school awareness and social media. Mary is a legal practitioner admitted to the Fiji High Court and a solicitor and litigator in the office of the Attorney-General. She is also the legal advisor to the Mercy Commission, an accredited mediator with the Fiji Mediation Centre, a member of the Real Estate Agents Licensing Board and a member of the Central Division Liquor Licensing Authority.
Iftach Orr
Iftach Orr is the CTO and co-founder of ActiveFence, a company that enables Trust & Safety teams to be proactive about keeping users safe from malicious online activities. Iftach has over 15 years of experience in the fields of AI, Trust & Safety, Large scale data products, Privacy, and Security. Previously, he served in an intelligence unit in the Israeli military and worked as the VP R&D at SimilarWeb and as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Lool Ventures.
Rebecca Parlakian
Rebecca Parlakian is ZERO TO THREE's Senior Director of Programs at ZERO TO THREE, where she directs a portfolio of projects related to child development, parenting, and high quality teaching and caregiving. In her role, Rebecca has developed a variety of parenting resources including several video series, an app to promote parent-child play, web-based resources, and several publications and curricula for professionals. She has also co-authored three parenting education curricula, most recently Early Connections, and published articles on topics including dual language development, early math instructional strategies, and the impact of screens on very young children. Rebecca holds a Master's degree in Education and Human Development, with a concentration in infant-toddler special education, from the George Washington University, where she is currently serving as adjunct faculty. Her most important and most satisfying lab work in child development, however, is her two children, Ella and Bennett.
Yan Perng
Yan Perng is Senior Legal Counsel at Tencent where she oversees legal affairs for the global games business unit under which international games are developed and published outside of mainland China. Prior to joining Tencent, she was Associate General Counsel at NCSOFT West supporting its western operations. Yan began her professional career in private practice with a focus on intellectual property, commercial and corporate transactions, and esports. Yan is a graduate of National Taiwan University and University of Washington School of Law and is now based in Los Angeles.
Billy Perry
Billy Perry is a content creator that focuses mainly on dad content that shows how to actually communicate with your kids, mixed with some football trick shots and whatever else they come up with. He is 49 years old, he's still a kicker in the arena football league and he holds two Guinness world records in relation to field goal kicking. He got started with social media three years ago when his daughters introduced him to TikTok and convinced him to start my own account after he had done a dance with them for their TikTok. He lives in Oklahoma with my wife of 19 years, their 3 kids and 3 French bulldogs. He finds myself becoming something of an advisor or consultant to both brands and younger creators, to bridge the gap between what was and what is coming.
Dru Perry
Dru is a senior in high school. She has an older brother, a younger sister and three French bulldogs. Social media is a large part of her life. She enjoys taking pictures and editing. She has a unique perspective on social media, family and can provide the teenage perspective when it comes to internet safety and mental health.
Kristina Podnar
Kristina Podnar is a digital policy innovator. For over two decades, she has worked with some of the most high-profile companies, governments, and non-governmental entities to see policies as opportunities to free the organization from uncertainty, risk, and internal chaos. More importantly though, she helps digital teams unlock opportunity, strengthen the brand, and liberate employees to drive innovation aligned to business strategy. Kristina is the Principal of NativeTrust Consulting, LLC, a Digital Policy Advisor at The Cantellus Group, and the Global Digital Policy Expert at the XR Safety Initiative (XRSI). Kristina also is the Executive Lead of The Metaverse Reality Check (MRC), a global oversight board for and by citizens. She has a BA in international studies and an MBA in international business from the Dominican University of California. Her book, The Power of Digital Policy was published in March 2019.
David Ryan Polgar
David Ryan Polgar is a pioneering tech ethicist, Responsible Tech advocate, and expert on ways to improve social media and our information ecosystem, along with increasing the ethical considerations regarding emerging technologies. He specializes in uniting a diverse range of stakeholders in order to tackle complex tech & society issues, cultivating conducive environments for forward progress.David is the founder of All Tech Is Human, an organization committed to connecting and expanding the Responsible Tech ecosystem; making it more diverse, multidisciplinary, and aligned with the public interest. As the leader of All Tech Is Human, he has created a unique grassroots-meets-traditional-power-structure model that is uniting thousands of individuals across the globe to co-create a better tech future.
Michael D. Preston, PhD
Michael Preston is the Executive Director of the Joan Ganz Cooney Center, an independent research and innovation lab within Sesame Workshop that advances positive futures for kids in the digital world. The Center conducts research on emerging technologies and collaborates with technologists, digital media producers, and educators to support young people's learning and well-being. Michael has 25 years of experience leading educational innovation and technology programs in K-12, university, and informal learning contexts. His work focuses on child-centered approaches to design, new models for teaching and learning, and systemic change at local and national levels. He co-founded CSforALL, the hub for the national Computer Science for All movement, and led digital learning initiatives at the NYC Department of Education, Columbia University, and New Visions for Public Schools. He earned a PhD in Cognitive Science in Education from Teachers College, Columbia University and a BA from Harvard College.
Dr. Michael Rich
Dr. Rich is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics, at Harvard Medical and practices Adolescent Medicine at Boston Children's Hospital. Dr. Rich is also the Founding Director of the first evidence-based medical program addressing physical, mental, and social health issues associated with digital technology, the Clinic for Interactive Media and Internet Disorders​ (CIMAID). As The Mediatrician®, Dr. Rich offers research-based, balanced, and practical answers to parents', teachers', and clinicians' questions about children's media use and the positive and negative implications for their health and development. Understanding the power of screens to engage, connect, and change us all, he is bringing together pediatricians and software engineers, educators and designers, psychologists, and screenwriters in the Digital Wellness Lab to synergize in researching, responding to, and innovating a digital environment in which we can raise healthy, smart, productive, and kind children.
Lisa Robinson
Lisa works as an Online Safety Policy Analyst in the Science, Technology and Innovation Directorate at the OECD. A children's rights lawyer, Lisa worked on the development and subsequent implementation of the OECD's Recommendation on Children in the Digital Environment. As part of this work she has extensive experience analysing legal and policy responses to the needs of children in the digital environment as well as considering child rights implications of the evolving digital environment. Outside of the OECD, Lisa has worked on a number of different child rights and policy issues both at the domestic and international level, and she has also worked as a lecturer in the law faculties in Universities in both Australia and France.
Dr. Louis Rosenberg
Dr. Louis Rosenberg is a pioneer in the fields of virtual and augmented reality. His work began over 30 years ago in labs at Stanford and NASA. In 1992 he developed the first mixed reality system at Air Force Research Laboratory. In 1993 he founded the early VR company Immersion Corporation (public on Nasdaq). In 2004 he founded the early augmented reality company Outland Research. He earned his PhD from Stanford University, has been awarded over 300 patents for VR, AR, and AI technologies, and was a professor at California State University. He is currently the CEO of Unanimous AI, the Chief Scientist of the Responsible Metaverse Alliance, and the Global Technology Advisor to the XR Safety Initiative (XRSI).
Matt Schruers
Matt Schruers is President of the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA), where he directs its advocacy on behalf of leading Internet, communications, and technology companies. He joined CCIA from private practice in 2005. He also served for 10 years as an adjunct professor, teaching both intellectual property and Internet law at Georgetown University and American University Washington College of Law. He is a graduate of Duke and the University of Virginia School of Law.
Dr. Ellen Selkie
Dr. Selkie is an adolescent health researcher at the University of Wisconsin and an Adolescent Medicine specialist at UWHealth Kids in Madison, WI. She is also a member of the Executive Committee of the Council on Communications and Media at the American Academy of Pediatrics. Dr. Selkie is the principal investigator of the Learning More from Adolescents Online lab, where she studies the ways adolescents' use of technology relates to socioemotional wellbeing. She has over 10 years of experience using qualitative and quantitative methods to research cyberbullying, social media behaviors in adolescents over time, and ways technology can serve transgender and nonbinary youth. She has multiple grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study youth technology use, and has published and presented nationally and internationally on these topics. As a pediatrician, Dr. Selkie is passionate about caring for gender and sexual minority youth as well as justice-involved youth. This work inspires and informs her research goal of promoting positive socioemotional development through improving online experiences for young people.
Ella Serry
Ella Serry is the Manager of International Engagement and Capacity Building at Australia's eSafety Commissioner (eSafety). Ella joined eSafety in early 2019 as a Senior Education Advisor, delivering policy and project initiatives focused on school education, including the eSafety Toolkit for Schools. Ella leads a team focused on advancing eSafety's international strategic priorities with governments, multi-lateral organisations, international NGOs, academics and policy experts, as well as assisting other nations to develop online safety capabilities — shaping a community of practice and raising the bar for online safety globally.Prior to joining eSafety, Ella developed and delivered a number of child safety and student wellbeing initiatives across government and the non-government sector. Ella holds a MSc in Policy and Human Services from RMIT University, and a BA from the University of Melbourne. Her Master thesis looked at policy responses to sexting, with a focus on curriculum.
Arana Shapiro
Arana Shapiro is an educator and social entrepreneur with more than 20 years of experience developing innovative approaches to learning using games and game design. As Chief Operations and Programs Officer at Games for Change, she oversees programs and partnerships for schools, organizations and families, and supports a growing global community of educators using games in the classroom. Previously, as the Executive Director of the Institute of Play, Arana was part of a team that designed and opened the first school in the world with a game-like learning model, the New York City public school, Quest to Learn. She is a co-author of Quest to Learn: Growing a School for Digital Kids, published by MIT Press. With deep expertise in education and change management as a parent, teacher, school leader, educational technologist, curriculum designer, and nonprofit leader, Arana is a leading voice on education transformation. Her work has been featured in Education Week, EdSurge, Edutopia, The New York Times, The Guardian, NPR, Wired, and Fast Company, and she has spoken about games and learning at SXSW EDU, FETC, ISTE, WISE, and many other events around the globe. Arana received an M.A. in Education from Pepperdine University and a Masters of Education in Leadership for Educational Change from Bank Street College of Education.
Em Skehill
Em Skehill (she/they) is the Director of Public Awareness and Education at Mental Health America (MHA). She develops accessible educational resources for MHA's awareness initiatives, including Mental Health Month, Pride Month, and youth wellbeing. Prior to this role, Em was the Manager of Peer Advocacy, Supports, and Services, and she continues to integrate the values of lived experience and self-directed care into her work. Em graduated from Northeastern University with a degree in Communication Studies and Psychology. Her lived mental health experience has made her a passionate advocate for stigma reduction and increased accessibility to services.
Matt Soeth
Matthew Soeth is Head of Trust and Safety and Global Affairs. Matt brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to All Tech Is Human. With over 10 years of experience working in online safety, Matt has worked on the ground in schools, at platforms, and at nonprofits advising and developing policy, tooling, and safety resources for global audiences. In addition, Matt is a respected leader in the field of Trust & Safety who has helped build a more cohesive field and helped open up pathways for new voices to enter the fray. Matt spent the past two years as Head of Trust and Safety at Spectrum Labs supporting gaming, dating and social platforms with their policy, tooling, workflows, and outreach. Matt also served as head of community for the #TSCollective where he helped to grow a community of online trust and safety professionals across the globe. Matt was also an active part of Atlantic Council's recent Task Force for a Trustworthy Future Web, speaking at their Washington, DC launch event for its related report, Scaling Trust on the Web.
Tim Sparapani
Tim Sparapani, Principal at SPQR Strategies, PLLC, is a legislative, legal and strategic consultant who helps companies understand and respond to the pressures created for businesses, consumers and governments by emerging technologies. Tim's specialties are privacy, cybersecurity, technology and constitutional law. Tim's clients are a diverse mix of industry leading companies, dynamic technology startups, and thought leading advocacy organizations.
Kathy Stokes
Kathy Stokes is a nationally recognized leader in the consumer fraud arena. As Director of Fraud Prevention Programs with AARP, Kathy leads AARP's social mission work to educate older adults on the risks that fraud represents to their financial security. Since taking the helm of the AARP Fraud Watch Network in 2019, she and her team have vastly expanded AARP's leadership in this space, including the creation of a new victim support program, a multi-year campaign to end the use of gift cards in fraud, and the formation of a national effort to fundamentally transform how our country addresses consumer fraud.
Catherine Teitelbaum
Catherine Teitelbaum is the Head of Family Trust for Amazon Kids, where she directs initiatives that empower families to confidently navigate the digital world. Catherine is a former educator and industry veteran with over two decades of experience in Trust & Safety and privacy. She previously led Trust & Safety at Twitch, Amazon's live-streaming service, and Yahoo, where she oversaw the award-winning Yahooligans and Yahoo! Education products as well as global policy initiatives.
Adam Thierer
Adam Thierer is a technology policy analyst who specializes in innovation, entrepreneurialism, and internet and free-speech issues, with a focus on the public policy concerns surrounding emerging technologies. Thierer has authored or edited ten books, and served on multiple online safety task forces, including the Online Safety and Technology Working Group during the Obama administration. He is currently serving as a Commissioner on the U.S. Chamber of Commerce "Commission on Artificial Intelligence Competitiveness, Inclusion, and Innovation." He previously worked as a fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, the Cato Institute, and the Heritage Foundation.
Dr. Shairi Turner
Shairi R. Turner MD, MPH serves as the Chief Health Officer at Crisis Text Line leading the organization's external policy, advocacy and partnership initiatives related to mental health. She is an internist and pediatrician with expertise in trauma-informed practices.
Patricia E. Vance
As president of the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), Pat leads the teams responsible for assigning age and content ratings to video games and apps, enforcing marketing guidelines adopted by the video game industry, and operating ESRB Privacy Certified, an FTC-approved COPPA Safe Harbor Privacy seal certification program. She also serves as founding chairperson of the International Age Rating Coalition (IARC), a non-profit organization that operates a ground-breaking global rating and age classification system for digitally delivered games and apps. Pat is a member of the Board of Directors for the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences (AIAS), a non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement and recognition of the interactive arts and a former Chair and long-standing Director of the Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI). Prior to joining the ESRB in 2002, Pat spent 18 years at Disney/ABC, with responsibility for the development of a broad range of new media and market initiatives, including the establishment of two video game joint ventures (Creative Wonders; OT Sports) and the management oversight of ABC.com, ABCNews.com, Oscar.com and Oprah.com in her capacity as Senior Vice President, General Manager of the ABC Internet Group.
Kip Wainscott
Kip Wainscott is an experienced professional at the intersection of law and technology, working to advance policy outcomes that affirm digital rights, online safety, and the principles of a free and open internet. He is currently Head of Platform Policy at Snap, Inc., where he is responsible for the development of Community Guidelines and user policies to promote safety, privacy, and integrity across the company's products and content surfaces. Previously, Kip worked at the White House under President Obama as Senior Director of Cabinet Affairs and Senior Advisor to the Domestic Policy Council, with a portfolio focused on issues related to justice, opportunity, and technology. He was also Senior Counsel in the Office of Legal Policy at the U.S. Department of Justice, where he focused on the development and coordination of policy priorities concerning emerging technologies. After leaving government, Kip led the Silicon Valley office of the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs and worked at Stanford University, where he was an Associate Director for the Stanford Cyber Policy Center and a policy fellow with the Digital Civil Society Lab. He is a member of the Pacific Council on International Policy, and remains an advisor to several public interest technology and democracy initiatives.
Andrew Zack
Andrew Zack is the Policy Manager for the Family Online Safety Institute, supporting policy and research work relating to online safety issues, laws, and regulations.Agenda
8:00 AM
Registration, Breakfast & Exhibits
9:00 AM
Welcome & Opening Remarks
- Tami Bhaumik, Roblox (FOSI Board Chair)
- Stephen Balkam, FOSI
9:15 AM
Launch of “Making Sense of Age Assurance: Enabling Safer Online Experiences” Research Report
- Chris Carbone, Kantar
- Jillian Domin, Kantar
9:45 AM
First Look: Experts React to New FOSI Research
Experts reflected on FOSI’s new study, which surveyed parents and kids across the US, UK, and France on topics around safety, privacy, and age assurance. Panelists shared initial reactions to the findings and provided insights on this complex issue. The discussion delved into key statistics, considered the broader implications for age assurance and online safety, and considered how best to educate parents and consumers.
- Chris Carbone, Kantar
- Julie Dawson, Yoti
- Almudena Lara, Google
- Tim Sparapani, SPQR Strategies (moderator)
10:30 AM
Networking & Exhibits
10:50 AM
Modern Family: Today’s Parents on Navigating Kids’ Digital Lives
Parenting is a tall order, and managing your family’s tech habits can make it even more challenging. We heard diverse perspectives on how real parents and experts make conscious, thoughtful decisions about devices, screen time, and media for their families. We heard from Amazon Kids partners and affiliates Terrell and Jarius Joseph, parents of 5-year old twins (and major social media influencers), Avi Greengart, parent of five kids between the ages of 9 – 22 (president/lead analyst of Techsponential), Kerry Gallagher, parent to a 10 and 13 year old (Education Director for ConnectSafely), Alicia Blum-Ross, parent of 9-year old twins (Senior Director of Global Youth Policy at Twitch), and moderator Catherine Teitelbaum, parent of a 16-year old (Head of Family Trust at Amazon Kids).
- Alicia Blum-Ross, Twitch
- Terrell and Jarius Joseph, Influencers & Parents
- Kerry Gallagher, St. John’s Preparatory School & ConnectSafely
- Avi Greengart, Techsponential
- Catherine Teitelbaum, Amazon Kids (moderator)
11:30 AM
Morning Breakout Sessions
Inside a Child’s Mind: Tech Use Through the Formative Years
This panel explored the impact of technology on children’s development from early ages to young adulthood. Speakers discussed how tech has influenced social-emotional development, how it has resulted in innovative STEM practices in classrooms, and what psychological trends have emerged throughout the pandemic. Panelists also spoke to the future of technology and human development, discussing areas where more research is needed within the field.
- Rebecca Parlakian, Zero to Three
- Michael Preston, Sesame Workshop
- Dr. Michael Rich, Digital Wellness Lab, Boston Children’s Hospital (moderator)
- Dr. Ellen Selkie, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Children’s Rights: A Global Perspective
Technology plays an intrinsic role in the lives of children from an early age as they begin to play, communicate, and learn in our highly connected world. Putting their interests first means collaboration by tech stakeholders to encourage responsible, privacy-driven innovation, and the creation of beneficial online spaces that emphasize wellbeing. Panelists discussed best practices including the importance of involving children as active participants in the design and construction of online experiences.
- Charlotte Aynsley, Digital Safeguarding Consultant (moderator)
- Mindy Brooks, Google
- Jasmina Byrne, UNICEF
- Sonia Livingstone, London School of Economics
- Lisa Robinson, OECD
Grappling With Trust and Safety Challenges
Who is responsible for the content we see online? How do filtering or algorithmic technologies versus human moderators impact scale and implementation? Can we effectively regulate what is shown to certain users, especially as we consider the many different types of content being uploaded in massive quantities to platforms each day? This panel spoke to these questions and more as experts considered the efficacy of current approaches to content moderation and possibilities for the future.
- Alexandra Reeve Givens, Center for Democracy and Technology (moderator)
- Iftach Orr, ActiveFence
- Matthew Schruers, CCIA
- Matthew Soeth, Spectrum Labs
- Adam Thierer, Technology Policy Analyst
Mindful Approaches to Online Gaming
Advancing technologies, diverse content and subject matter, and improved safety features are all recent developments within the world of games. Research shows that gaming communities serve as a place for young people to be creative, and connect – but there are also safety concerns. This panel explored ways to enhance the benefits and navigate the risks of gaming, including topics around the age and content rating system, the gaming regulatory landscape, and general safety best practices.
- Yan Perng, Tencent
- Arana Shapiro, Games For Change
- Pat Vance, ESRB
- Andrew Zack, FOSI (moderator)
12:30 PM
Lunch, Exhibits and Networking
Sponsored by Comcast
1:40 PM
Afternoon Breakout Sessions
Health & Wellbeing in a Hybrid World
Panelists discussed the term “digital wellbeing” and what it means for youth, in particular. The panel considered insights from current data and reflected on areas where more support is needed. Topics included best practices for industry to raise awareness of tools meant to support users, how parents, caregivers, and educators can help to ensure children’s safe online experiences, and other strategies to promote positivity and mitigate mental and physical health risks in online spaces.
- Dr. Kara Bagot, Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai
- Janell Burley Hoffman (moderator)
- TJ Donovan, Roblox
- Dr. Melissa Mercado, CDC
- Em Skehill, Mental Health America
How Do We Effectively Regulate Online Safety and Privacy?
Despite recent progress to pass an online safety bill (KOSA), update a children’s privacy law (COPPA 2.0), and establish comprehensive privacy protections (ADPPA), the US does not have any comprehensive data privacy laws nor online safety laws at the federal level. The UK has enacted a world-first Age Appropriate Design Code that prioritizes the best interests of children, and is working on a significant Online Safety Bill. Combined with actions in the EU and Australia, online safety and privacy are some of the most important policy areas in the world right now. This panel discussed local, national, and international policies, including their impact on users’ daily lives.
- Bennett Butler, Office of Senator Ed Markey
- Stacy Feuer, ESRB
- Jim Kohlenberger, Trusted Future (moderator)
- Lauren Merk, Future of Privacy Forum
- Ella Serry, eSafety Commissioner, Australia
Innovation and Awareness: New Solutions to Online Safety
Experts shared the top tech advancements and innovations from the past year around keeping kids safe online. From educational efforts to the design of technical tools and features, this was an opportunity for discussion about which approaches work best when it comes to prioritizing safety, raising awareness, and planning for the future.
- Shanta Arul, Netflix
- Jennifer Ihegword, Mattel, Inc
- Ashley Johnson, ITIF (moderator)
- Anup Kaneri, SmithMicro
- Kip Wainscott, Snap Inc.
Media Literacy Across the Generations
In today’s digital world, it is vital that all users practice critical thinking when using any form of media. Panelists spoke about how to develop and use media literacy skills, and highlight how media literacy is a crucial element to strengthening people’s understanding of news coverage, healthcare information, safety threats, and other important topics. Media literacy applies to everyone from young children to grandparents, and this panel will discuss the importance of creating a media literate society.
- Sara DePaul, AT&T
- Jamie Gregory, HS Teacher/Librarian
- Keyla Hernandez-Ulloa, FCC
- Michelle Lipkin, NAMLE (moderator)
- Kathy Stokes, AARP
2:40 PM
Discord & Crisis Text Line: A Partnership to Meet Teens Where They Are
The internet has fundamentally changed the ways in which we connect with others. Teens are at the forefront of each new innovation in the digital space, and their mental health must be woven into how we build these spaces. Experts from Discord and Crisis Text Line shared insights about how mental health is showing up in online communities, the unique ways teens reach out for help in digital spaces, and the role we all can play in creating a healthier digital ecosystem. We explored how partnerships such as those between Discord and Crisis Text Line can support our youth both online and off.
- Dr. Shairi Turner, MD, MPH, Crisis Text Line
- Savannah Badalich, Discord
3:10 PM
Family Engagement: Empowering Parents & Caregivers To Have Digital Safety Conversations
TikTok’s Head of Issue Policy, Trust & Safety Tracy Elizabeth, discussed how to effectively foster healthy engagement with young people and why this engagement is critical to authentically bolstering safety, facilitating family bonds, and providing psychological stability for teens.
Tracy was joined by TikTok creators, dad and daughter duo @billyvsco (11M followers) and @dru.perry (320K followers), to also explore how families can “adopt” youth who don’t have active caregivers in their lives, and the ways different parenting styles and personalities approach engaging with them about online safety.
- Tracy Elizabeth, TikTok
- Billy Perry, Content Creator
- Dru Perry, Content Creator
3:40 PM
Networking & Exhibits
4:00 PM
Keynote – Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya, Federal Trade Commission
4:15 PM
From AR to Avatars: Navigating Safety in the Metaverse
How is the metaverse evolving, and how do we ensure that users are kept safe? Panelists discussed current experiences in the metaverse, the use of augmented and virtual reality, and the potential benefits and challenges we collectively face in this new realm. Panelists reflected on the role that industry, policymakers, parents, and advocates play as this technology continues to advance.
- Tami Bhaumik, Roblox
- Stephanie Montgomery, XRA
- Kristina Podnar, XRSI
- David Ryan Polgar, All Tech is Human (moderator)
- Dr. Louis Rosenberg, Unanimous A.I.
5:00 PM
A New Regulatory Collaboration: Launching the Global Online Safety Regulators Network
The global digital landscape is rapidly evolving, with the pendulum swinging towards a greater focus on online safety by governments and industry alike. We heard from the first movers in online safety regulation: Australia’s eSafety Commissioner, Fiji’s Online Safety Commission, and Ofcom in the UK. In addition, the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) outlined Ireland’s future move into online safety regulation in Europe. In this panel, these four regulators came together to discuss the way forward for online safety regulation around the world, and launched the Global Online Safety Regulators Network.
- Stephen Balkam, FOSI (moderator)
- Celene Craig, Broadcasting Authority of Ireland
- Dame Melanie Dawes, Ofcom, United Kingdom
- Julie Inman Grant, eSafety Commissioner, Australia
- Mary Motofaga, Online Safety Commission, Fiji
5:30 PM
Closing Remarks
5:35 PM