Bluesky’s Head of Trust and Safety is Not a Fan of ‘Free Speech Absolutism’

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Bluesky has positioned itself as a safe space for progressives who don’t want to be associated with Elon Musk’s X. What this means in practice is that you’re likely to be welcomed there so long as you are slightly to the left of Mao but anyone, left or right, who voices an unapproved opinion with be hounded by a mob.

So Bluesky got a rave review from a NY Times reporter who encouraged others to try it out but people on the wrong side of history get lots and lots of death threats. Even a reporter for Politico who linked a story mildly critical of progressives leaving X was subject to a tidal wave of angry complaints.

At last check, my post elicited more than 2,100 quote-posts and some 3,700 responses, a tally of interactions easily surpassing my number of followers. Almost all of the feedback was angry, and no shortage was directed not toward Nancy’s piece in general or the quote in particular but … me. Trigger warning here for readers with an aversion to gratuitous profanity and faceless aggression, but I was, in the words of Bluesky users, among many, many other things, a “f***ing dork,” a “f***ing wanker,” a “f***ing moron,” a “dumb f***” and a “bitch.”

The person responsible for making sure Bluesky remains a safe space is Aaron Rodericks, who has been head of trust and safety since earlier this year. I was not shocked to learn that Rodericks is not a believer in “free speech absolutism” aka free speech.

“I think it just comes down to philosophies of free speech,” he says. “The last couple of years have seen a paradigm switch into a ‘one size fits all’ approach that’s dictated to you by billionaires… [based on] the type of speech that the owner of the company believes in, and it is a take-it-or-leave-it scenario.”…

Rodericks’s conception of free speech is influenced by his background. “Being Canadian shapes a lot of my perspective. There’s enough of the American perspective in the world on a day-to-day basis. For example, in the Canadian constitution… you have rights and freedoms, but they’re not unequivocal.”

Some have criticised Bluesky for being an “echo chamber” or “safe space”, too dominated by left-leaning and liberal users whose views are rarely challenged. “I’m glad that [critics] consider it a safe space,” Aaron says, “and ideally it can be a safe space for them as well. The whole point of Bluesky is for it to be safe and welcoming to all users. I think the issue is some people are defining their identity by opposition to others and how well they can harass others and deny their existence. Bluesky may not be the right place for them.”

He’s not naming any names but the most blocked person on the entire site, as of this week, is reporter Jesse Singal. That reference Rodericks made to harassing others and denying “their existence” is exactly the sort of BS progressives always say about anyone who disagrees with trans activists. Of course reporting factual information harmful to a progressive cause is not harassment but the goal here isn’t accuracy it’s silencing a political opponent.

Rodericks used to work at trust and safety for Twitter. After Elon Musk bought the site, Rodericks and his whole team were fired. He sued and blocked the action in the Irish courts. 

Aaron Rodericks, who is the co-lead of threat disruption at X, secured the order against his employer.

He claims he is being subjected to a process that is “a complete sham” over allegations that he “demonstrated hostility” to the company for allegedly liking tweets by third parties that are critical of X, Mr Musk and the firm’s chief executive Linda Yaccarine.

He also sued Musk for defamation over a tweet.

Lawyers for Aaron Rodericks, who remained with Twitter after Musk acquired the platform and eventually renamed it X, received permission Monday from an Irish court to serve Musk related to the defamation claims, according to an RTE report, the country’s major news outlet and broadcaster…

At issue in the new defamation claims is a tweet from Musk after those fall layoffs, which eliminated Rodericks’s team that focused on election integrity. In response to media reporting of the layoffs, Musk wrote on the platform: “Oh you mean the ‘Election Integrity’ Team that was undermining election integrity? Yeah, they’re gone.”

That case was eventually settled along undisclosed terms.

So Rodericks and Musk are clearly not friendly and that seems to play out in their very different views of free speech. Musk is a free speech absolutist and Rodericks takes a different view: “I think it’s a notable and worthwhile experiment, if that’s where [Musk] wants to spend his money and his resources. I just don’t believe in that philosophy for Bluesky.”