Thanks, I Hate It with Nika Reyes
"Whenever there's a T&S-related PR crisis, I wonder if it went through QA."
Welcome to Thanks, I Hate It - my new interview series where I get to pick the brains of brilliant people in Trust & Safety and learn about all the cool stuff they're working on. Get ready to join me on this wild ride and discover the ins and outs of how we keep the internet safe. Who knows, maybe we'll even have some fun along the way (but don't get your hopes up).
This week, we’re sitting down with the QA Queen, Nika Reyes, who I had the absolute pleasure of working with in a former life. But I’ll let her introduce herself:
Hi I’m Nika - I’ve worked in T&S for six years doing a variety of roles but have spent the past few years with a specific focus on T&S QA. Outside of work I like terrible reality TV, playing tennis and working out, and reading.
So without further ado, let’s get into it!
1. What the heck is QA in Trust & Safety, and how did you get into it?
I think when most people think of "QA," they envision product QA, which is more akin to stress-testing or bug-testing that is usually conducted before a product launch. T&S QA, on the other hand, is a primarily retrospective process that aims to ensure that a policy decision or process was properly followed during moderation. I first became involved in T&S QA when I worked as a queue agent and demonstrated a talent for moderation, leading me to be tasked with QA workflows and setting the "correct" answer as a Quality Analyst.
2. What do you think people who are new to Trust & Safety, especially QA, need to know?
Moderation is deceptively simple - the industry has done a great job of making simple review products or moderation queues where on paper the task is just "look at this image" or "read this comment" and apply a label to it! That doesn’t sound so bad - except when you see the content and realize there’s an extreme amount of nuance. Who is talking to whom? Why did they post this? Are they being sarcastic? Where is this person located? Maybe they’re in another country where a certain phrase they used has a very different connotation. These are a handful of the questions that might pop up when evaluating content, and they are difficult to adequately capture in data. For the purposes of quality assurance, this gets complicated when one of the QA goals is to blindly duplicate the original review process; nuance and context can change or get lost.
3. How do you think the role of QA in T&S will change in the next 10 years?
Not necessarily a bad thing, but I believe T&S will face greater scrutiny as the general public becomes more aware of it. Whenever there's a T&S-related PR crisis, I wonder if it went through QA. It's good that platforms are held accountable for their moderation decisions, and I believe QA will increasingly become part of the chain of accountability. Over the past decade, the public's reaction has been "Why was that allowed?" or "Why was that blocked?" However, as people gain a better understanding of moderation, I believe this will evolve to questions like "Why was that [allowed/blocked]?" "How many levels of review did it go through?" "Did anyone check that?"
Furthermore, at present, T&S QA mainly involves retroactively checking moderation. However, there are increasing moves towards becoming more proactive. As we become more aware of the risks of allowing harmful content (or blocking beneficial content), I believe QA will play a more significant role in the overall moderation system, potentially earlier in the process.
4. If you were in charge of a brand new UGC platform, what features would you include to promote safety?
More of a strategy than a feature, I would determine the number of users the moderation team could adequately serve and limit the number of users based on that number. If the platform wanted to grow its user base, the T&S team would need to grow proportionally. Would anyone ever go for this strategy? Probably not! It pretty obviously limits growth, but I think it would create the safest platform to date if anyone ever went for it.
Another strategy would be to be very conscientious about expanding into other countries and supporting new languages. I've seen this happen without adequate support quite a few times. Supporting a new language is definitely not as easy as throwing some content into Google Translate and going from there!
5. What’s your go-to strategy for dealing with the internet’s worst people?
In my personal life, I am very offline (maybe because I work in T&S!). On a micro-level, I think ignoring and disengaging is helpful. I read a book called The Gift of Fear by Gavin de Becker years ago, and while the book is about physical safety and security, there's a lot of discussion about stalkers and how any attention in these situations is positive attention for the person being abusive.
The algorithms behind popular platforms are the same way. If you comment on something because you hate it, that's still "positive attention," and it still gets the content to more eyes. I don't think this necessarily applies in all online situations, but I think it's a helpful gut check to give yourself before engaging with others, especially strangers, online.
6. If you could go back in time and be part of the creation of the internet, what would you do differently to ensure T&S were built in from the beginning?
I would emphasize diversity within the working environment. Unfortunately, many disciplines in tech limit themselves to thinking of their 'ideal' user, who is often just like them in terms of education, race, politics, and economic status. One of the easiest ways to combat this is by having a diverse team, where not everyone thinks alike or has the same background or experiences. I don't think it's an unfamiliar feeling for BIPOC, women, LGBTQ folks, and other underrepresented groups to see an article about how some product went awry and think, "yeah, one person like me in the room could have told you that was going to happen." The T&S teams I've been on have consistently been more diverse than the rest of the company, and I don't think this is accidental.
7. How do you stay up to date on the latest trends and technologies related to T&S?
With trends, the first step is to admit defeat and know that you can’t keep up with everything! There will always be a weird, niche corner of the internet you’re just learning about. Personally, I choose a few sources like The Verge or ICYMI (a podcast) to keep me updated on internet trends and news that might be outside of my personal scope in some way.
8. If you could create a T&S dream team, who would they be, and why?
Interesting question! I've had so many great coworkers across many different organizations that my initial reaction was to think, "Oh, I would hire this person, and this person, and this person..." But more broadly speaking, and related to one of my previous answers, my T&S dream team is one with a huge diversity of experiences and backgrounds. I think bringing a wide mix of people to the table is what makes really successful T&S teams.
9. And finally - in your opinion, what role do you think T&S should play in the inherent triangle of awful that is privacy, censorship, and safety?
Oof - saving the hard stuff for last! I don’t have a super coherent answer here, but a few thoughts: I think the role of T&S depends on the specific community. One thing that was nice about the “old internet”, in the forum days prior to our massive social platforms, was that communities were relatively small and niche. Meaning they could make their own specific rules that worked for that community (my husband is in one of these now, a very small forum for people who are interested in video games in a very particular way). In some ways, the smallness of forums is really beneficial because the T&S for something small is bespoke and not a one-size-fits-all, so how T&S is involved in safety, privacy, and censorship can fit the community.
That said, when it comes to the larger platforms, T&S is always walking the line of keeping the environment safe without being extremely overly cautious and censorious. That’s a very difficult role, and I think it’s what T&S should do. We are the department to consider worst-case scenarios and different viewpoints.
Huge thanks to Nika for being a good sport and answering all of my silly questions.