How one Canadian is trying to keep a fast-growing social media platform troll-free

Aaron Rodericks loves his job, even if it isn't for the faint of heart.

"I wouldn't recommend my job to most people," he said, laughing. "That would be the honest response."

As Bluesky Social's head of trust and safety, it's up to Rodericks to keep one of the fastest growing social media platforms from becoming a playground for trolls, misinformation and election interference.

"The best part about working in trust and safety is you have no idea what you're going to be dealing with," Rodericks said in an interview from his home office in Dublin. "The challenges are that there are so many problems that can arise from moment to moment."

Last week, Rodericks himself became a target for attacks on his own platform, including messages from accounts set up with names like "Fire Aaron Rodericks."

"People love to disagree with moderation decisions," he said. "It's a common occurrence."

Overseeing a social media platform that has grown from 5 million users to more than 25 million in ten months is about as far as you can get from Rodericks' former career as a federal public servant.

Born in Mumbai, India, Rodericks and his family came to Canada when he was a child — first to Toronto, then to Montreal's West Island and finally to the Ottawa suburb of Stittsville. After earning a bachelor's degree in public affairs and policy management at Carleton University, Rodericks followed in his father's footsteps and began working for the federal government.

Over 13 years, he worked for several departments, including Immigration, Global Affairs and Treasury Board, often in jobs that involved innovation or the online world. In 2019, a job opportunity for his wife prompted him to leave government and move to Ireland.

Rodericks soon landed at Twitter in May 2019 as co-lead of its trust and safety section, working on disrupting threats on the platform such as election interference, misinformation and disinformation.

Rodericks describes his job at Twitter as "a great experience."

"It was fantastic to have my first experience working in tech, just seeing the vast difference in speed, in product, in how rapidly we could move," he said. "I've certainly spent, in one case, four years trying to get a briefing note through leadership in government to try and get it approved, and no one knew if they had the right authority.

"It was just so staggering to be in these different environments where perfect was the enemy of good. While in government, you were always trying to achieve perfect but you were trying to do it before launch. And then after you launched it, it was done. You never touched it again.

"Meanwhile, at Twitter, you launched your best effort. You threw intelligent people at the problem. You saw how they handled it."