The top Trust & Safety podcasts to follow in 2026

Trust & Safety isn’t a discipline that lends itself especially well to hot takes. The work is too messy, the trade-offs are too real, and the stakes are often too high. The people building safer online spaces are constantly balancing competing priorities like safety and expression, automation and human judgment, global policy and local context, speed and fairness.

This is one of the reasons why podcasts have become such a useful format for people working in the field. They create room for longer, more candid conversations about how Trust & Safety decisions are actually made,  and what those decisions look like in practice.

“In online Trust & Safety, nuance is everything,” says Ailís Daly, Head of Trust & Safety, EMEA, at WebPurify, an IntouchCX company, and host of WebPurify’s Trust Issues podcast. “The challenges we deal with rarely fit neatly into simple narratives or quick headlines.”

For Daly, that is exactly what makes podcasts so valuable right now. In a field that sits at the intersection of policy, technology, law, product design, operations, and ethics, podcasts give practitioners a chance to hear ideas tested in real time. They allow for debate, disagreement, practical lessons, and behind-the-scenes insight that often gets flattened out in shorter formats.

“That’s why podcasts have become such a valuable format for the field,” she says. “They create space for the longer, more thoughtful conversations needed to unpack how platforms actually manage harm and navigate those difficult decisions.”

Why podcasts matter in Trust & Safety

Trust & Safety is also an unusually interdisciplinary profession. The people shaping the field may come from policy, moderation operations, legal teams, product organizations, research backgrounds, or frontline safety roles. Podcasts can bring those perspectives together in a way that feels more dynamic and more honest than a formal report.

Some of the most useful lessons in Trust & Safety come from people explaining what happened when a policy was rolled out, how a moderation system performed under pressure, or where a platform’s approach broke down in the real world.

“Many of the most valuable insights come from candid conversations between people who are actively working in the field,” says Daly. “Podcasts are especially good at surfacing the behind-the-scenes insights that don’t always make it into official reports or conference presentations.”

What makes a Trust & Safety podcast worth following?

Not every industry podcast earns a regular place in someone’s listening queue. According to Daly, the best Trust & Safety podcasts tend to do three things well.

1. First, they bring practitioners into the conversation. “Hearing directly from people building policies, running moderation operations, designing safety systems, or managing emerging risks provides insights you rarely get from high-level commentary alone,” she says.
2. Second, they make room for genuine complexity. “Good podcasts don’t pretend there are easy answers,” Daly says. “They unpack the tensions between safety, free expression, innovation, and regulation.”
3. Third, they connect day-to-day operational realities with broader shifts in technology and policy. The strongest shows help listeners understand how AI, regulation, changing user behavior, and platform design trends are reshaping the work in front of Trust & Safety teams.

Ultimately, Daly says, the podcasts that resonate most are the ones that feel like being part of “an ongoing industry conversation, rather than just commentary from the sidelines.”

The top Trust & Safety podcasts to follow in 2026

If you work in Trust & Safety, podcasts have become one of the best ways to stay connected to the conversations shaping the field. These are a few Daly consistently recommends.

1. Trust Issues

Daly starts with WebPurify’s own show. “This is very much a passion project of mine, and I’m incredibly proud of the conversations we’ve curated,” she says.

Hosted by Daly, Trust Issues brings together experienced voices from across the Trust & Safety ecosystem, including policy leaders, operators, researchers, and regulators. The goal isn’t to offer surface-level commentary, but to create thoughtful conversations about the real challenges the industry is grappling with and how teams are responding in practice.

That practitioner focus is part of what gives the show its value. Rather than talking about Trust & Safety in the abstract, Trust Issues is built to explore how platforms make decisions, where tensions emerge, and what professionals across the field can learn from one another.

2. Ctrl-Alt-Speech

Hosted by Mike Masnick and Ben Whitelaw, Ctrl-Alt-Speech is one of Daly’s top picks for anyone interested in platform governance and the policy debates shaping the future of online safety.

“Ctrl-Alt-Speech consistently offers some of the most thoughtful discussions about platform governance, moderation systems, and the broader policy debates shaping Trust & Safety,” Daly says.

Its appeal lies in its willingness to stay with difficult questions rather than rushing toward simple conclusions. For professionals who want a more nuanced view of moderation, governance, and the broader forces acting on platforms, it is a strong listen.

3. Safe Space: Talking Trust and Safety

Produced by THORN, Safe Space: Talking Trust and Safety focuses on real-world harms and the challenges of protecting vulnerable users online.

As Daly explains, the show “brings together practitioners and experts to explore real Trust & Safety challenges, particularly around protecting vulnerable users and tackling online harm.”

That makes it especially useful for listeners who want to hear grounded discussions about the human impact of Trust & Safety work, and the practical realities of addressing harm in online spaces.

4. Safety Is [Redacted]

Hosted by Matt Soeth, Safety Is [Redacted] recently rebranded and offers conversations with experts working across content, technology, and research.

Daly highlights it as a podcast that “features conversations with content experts, technology specialists, and researchers working to create healthier online spaces.”

That breadth gives the show a useful range. It is a good option for Trust & Safety professionals who want to hear from different disciplines and better understand how healthier digital environments are being built from multiple angles.

5. Hard Fork

Not every podcast worth following in this space is a pure-play Trust & Safety show. Daly also recommends Hard Fork, hosted by Casey Newton and Kevin Roose.

“This isn’t strictly a Trust & Safety podcast,” she says, “but it frequently dives into issues like AI safety, platform governance, and the societal impact of technology.”

That broader lens is exactly why it earns a place on the list. Trust & Safety teams do not operate in a vacuum. They are increasingly shaped by developments in AI, online culture, product design, and public policy, and Hard Fork helps listeners stay connected to those wider conversations.

Keep listening

As Trust & Safety continues to evolve, podcasts are becoming an increasingly important way for professionals to learn from peers, pressure-test ideas, and stay close to the issues reshaping the field.

Together, Daly’s recommendations offer a useful mix of practitioner insight, policy debate, and wider technology context. Or, as she puts it, they help listeners feel part of an ongoing industry conversation — exactly the kind of conversation Trust & Safety needs.