00:15:16 · Katie Prescott, Yoel Roth
[00:15:16] S2: On the lawsuit front, what did you make of the recent settlement, the Meta settlement, the $18,000,000,000 settlement? [00:15:22] S3: I think a lot of what we're seeing in The United States at the moment is an engagement with the design of products and specifically the way that certain design conventions can be potentially dangerous to children or minors. I think that engagement is is absolutely correct. And the more that we can see companies like Meta take up the basic questions of how they build their products in more responsible ways that gives users control, the better. Equally, especially working in the dating space where our products are for adults, I think we need to zoom out a little bit from some of the specific questions raised in the meta suit and think generally about safe product design. The work that my team and I do every day is really focused on how we can create an experience that is safe and empowering for the millions of people who turn to dating apps for connection. And that doesn't just mean keeping minors out of spaces that are intended for adults. It's also about ensuring that women in particular feel safe when they're connecting online, that we're taking a hard stance on hate and abuse and harassment, and that critically, we're combating scams and fraud that impact adults. I think in The US, we're seeing the first version of this question focused primarily on how we protect young adults, but there's a whole set of other questions about responsible technology deployment that we have to deal with as well.
00:15:22 · Yoel Roth, Katie Prescott
[00:15:22] S3: I think a lot of what we're seeing in The United States at the moment is an engagement with the design of products and specifically the way that certain design conventions can be potentially dangerous to children or minors. I think that engagement is is absolutely correct. And the more that we can see companies like Meta take up the basic questions of how they build their products in more responsible ways that gives users control, the better. Equally, especially working in the dating space where our products are for adults, I think we need to zoom out a little bit from some of the specific questions raised in the meta suit and think generally about safe product design. The work that my team and I do every day is really focused on how we can create an experience that is safe and empowering for the millions of people who turn to dating apps for connection. And that doesn't just mean keeping minors out of spaces that are intended for adults. It's also about ensuring that women in particular feel safe when they're connecting online, that we're taking a hard stance on hate and abuse and harassment, and that critically, we're combating scams and fraud that impact adults. I think in The US, we're seeing the first version of this question focused primarily on how we protect young adults, but there's a whole set of other questions about responsible technology deployment that we have to deal with as well. [00:16:50] S2: And do you feel like that suit has marked a change, a change of direction in The US, a change of sentiment towards social media?
00:16:50 · Katie Prescott, Yoel Roth
[00:16:50] S2: And do you feel like that suit has marked a change, a change of direction in The US, a change of sentiment towards social media? [00:17:00] S3: I think it's too soon to tell. I do think people's relationship with technology has changed a lot. I remember, you know, in the early days that I worked at Twitter, the overwhelming sentiment was optimism about what these technologies could do for humanity. It was the days of Tahrir Square. It was the days of the Arab Spring. And what we saw from people's reactions to social media was a sense of possibility for empowering democracies and progressive social change, and that's a bit different these days. I think there's a wariness and a skepticism that undergirds all of how we engage with these tools. Even in the space of dating, we see that people are hungrier for that in person connection and are more and more wary of spending their time, the precious free time that they have, simply scrolling passively on phones. And so I think there is a need for all of us collectively to grapple with the fact that people are more skeptical of technology, young people are more dissatisfied with it than they've ever been. And as we build these tools, we need to do so in a way that's aligned with the changing expectations, especially of Gen Z. [00:18:17] S2: How do you feel about Twitter now four years after leaving when you look at, well, the platform that is now X?
00:18:17 · Katie Prescott, Yoel Roth
[00:18:17] S2: How do you feel about Twitter now four years after leaving when you look at, well, the platform that is now X? [00:18:24] S3: It's changed quite profoundly, both in terms of its content moderation policies, in terms of its governance, even in terms of who's using it. I am not personally on the platform anymore, so I'm not necessarily the best expert on on how the the conversation is shaping out these days. But I can say, you know, up to 2022, Twitter placed a very high value on safety. And we did so because we viewed it as a a fundamental driver of business success and growth. And I think the incentives shaping the way X operates today are a bit different. [00:19:02] S2: Have you spoken to Elon Musk since you left? [00:19:04] S3: I have not, no. [00:19:05] S2: And how do you feel about the leadership of the other social media companies? And do you feel like there's a responsibility there? Or do you feel that, you know, actually perhaps the safety conversation has dropped too far down the agenda?
00:19:05 · Katie Prescott, Yoel Roth
[00:19:05] S2: And how do you feel about the leadership of the other social media companies? And do you feel like there's a responsibility there? Or do you feel that, you know, actually perhaps the safety conversation has dropped too far down the agenda? [00:19:17] S3: Technology companies are complex beasts. They're shaped by a lot of different factors. Everything from the whims of their executives to what users want to pressure from advertisers to critically what regulators are looking for. And all of those factors come into play in shaping what companies do or don't prioritize. I think it's true that we've seen the major tech firms take a step back from investment in online safety in recent years, and we can speculate about why that is and why the political winds have changed. But ultimately, I don't think that what users are looking for has changed. And critically, I don't think that what regulators are looking for has changed. In fact, I would say that the regulatory tides in The UK and Europe and around the world increasingly are pushing companies to focus on safety. The question is just how does that balance out against the agenda of the executives responsible for some of the biggest companies and what their business incentives are? [00:20:22] S2: And talk to me about what you're seeing at Match at the moment, because I know you have just done this study into dating.
00:20:22 · Katie Prescott, Yoel Roth
[00:20:22] S2: And talk to me about what you're seeing at Match at the moment, because I know you have just done this study into dating. [00:20:28] S3: Yeah, I think the most striking top line finding coming out of our study in The UK is that even as there's more ways for people to connect than ever before across Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, it's harder and harder for people to turn that into connection. The real paradox is that a third of singles didn't meet a single new person face to face in the last month. And that data is globally representative. [00:20:56] S2: Really? That's mad. [00:20:57] S3: Yeah. But when you think about it, it's in part driven by the fact that the traditional spaces of human connection have really eroded. If you look at where, you know, boomers traditionally would meet a partner, places like the pub or a bar, only 4% of Gen Z say that they've met their most recent partner in one of those spaces. And so there's been a really fundamental transformation in where connection happens. That said, six in ten UK singles say they want more of their social life to happen in person. And so there's a real sense of loss associated with this change, a feeling that we've given something up by becoming more and more connected online, but less and less connected in person. [00:21:43] S2: So how you change that then? How do you get those people who are finding each other online to actually meet in person?