Eradicating online hate
@Régis Suhner/CoE
In today's digital age, tackling online abuse has emerged as a critical issue, that requires implementation of effective legislation. Testimonies from all sport actors, in particular players and referees, provide valuable insights into the nature of this phenomenon and its profound impact on both their personal and professional lives, as well as those of their families. It is therefore crucial to raise awareness of the detrimental effects of online abuse on the mental well-being and performance of victims. In response to this growing concern, many companies have developed software to monitor, moderate, and combat online abuse, and to protect social channels from hate speech, harassment, and other unlawful content.
Their cutting-edge solutions play a vital role in safeguarding the online experience of sportspeople, fostering a safer and more inclusive digital environment for all users.
In this page you will find examples of the experiences of some relevant companies, alongside a compilation of best practices to combat online abuse
Companies combating online abuse
Country: France
Organisation responsible: French Professional Football League (LFP)
Main topic addressed: Online hate
Type of resource/practice: Reporting system
Approach: Monitoring
Target group(s): French Professional clubs (L1 & L2)
Timing: Ongoing
Language: French
Brief description of the practice: In partnership with the social networking platforms Facebook and Twitter, the French Professional Football League (LFP) worked to create working groups and dedicated tools to strengthen and improve the fight against online hate in French football.
Context and objectives: This initiative is born in February 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic. At this period of time, several actors of the game as well as their relatives were the target of online hate speech on social networks. More broadly the LFP claims that every football professional game is the opportunity for haters to spread their hatred.
The initiative was therefore decided considering an increase of online hate speech towards football actors in France notably.
One of the main objectives of the initiative is to provide clubs with a solution to face any hate content that might offence them on public social medias.
Resources required: Agreements with social media platforms and partnerships with online protection services.
Resources required: 30 000 hate messages moderated over 545 000 during the 2021-2022 season.
Over this 2 years partnership (2021-2023), Bodyguard.ai moderated more than 1.7 million comments for the LFP and identified 71, 000 of them (4.1%) as hate messages.
Follow-up ideas and future plans: This initiative for dedicated tools to counter online hate towards clubs on social networks was followed by an improved initiative to tackle the issue.
The LFP partnered with the French tech company Bodyguard.ai which provides online security services thanks to artificial intelligence. Bodyguard.ai detects and moderate hatred content on the social media of the LFP. This partnership must allow a faster, more effective response to online hate on the nights of French professional football games.
Further information:
