Paris Games: IOC Flagged 152K-Plus Abusive Online Posts Targeting Athletes

By Barry Janoff

October 14, 2024: With athletes becoming an increasingly high-profile target of online and in-stadium abuse — and with sports leagues and organizations ramping up measures to counter this damage — the International Olympic Committee said that during the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics its new artificial intelligence-powered cyber abuse protection service flagged more than152,000 posts and comments as being “potentially abusive via AI (and) 10,200-plus posts and comments were verified as abusive, and reported these to the (social media) platforms for removal.”

The IOC said it was able to “automatically protect more than 10,400 athletes and officials who had one or more active social media accounts” using what it called the “largest and most comprehensive service of its kind in sports history.”

Also, in what it called “an example of best-practice, recognizing the real embodied harm caused by online violence, the new AI-powered cyber abuse service was fully embedded in the most comprehensive package of mental health and safeguarding initiatives ever provided to athletes at the Olympic Games.

“This ensured that all targeted individuals received support.”

The athletes and coaches with active social media accounts were “automatically protected by the service during the Games, with targeted abusive posts identified, verified and escalated for removal, in many cases before they reached the athletes.”

During the Paris Games, the IOC said its online abuse protection service analyzed 2.4 million posts and comments from the 20,000 athletes’ and officials’ social media handles “in real time and in over 35 languages.”

The 20,000-plus accounts spanned four social media platforms: X (Twitter), Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.

“These figures demonstrate the scale of protection that was provided at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 — and the scale of online abuse that athletes and officials face,” Kirsty Burrows, IOC Head of Safe Sport, said via the organization.

“The legacy of this initiative, which put athlete wellbeing front and center, will continue long after the Games.”

Burrows said the full report, which will be available later this year or early in 2025, “will inform data-driven strategies to protect athletes and officials from cyber abuse, which causes real harm.”

The IOC’s AI intelligence-powered cyber abuse protection service “detected 8,900 unique accounts sending abusive messages” among the 152,000-plus posts and comments flagged as being “potentially abusive via AI (and) 10,200-plus posts and comments verified as abusive.”

The Olympic committee said 353 athletes/officials were directly targeted with abuse, with the “dominant type of abuse gender-based, with sexual/sexist violence specifically targeted at female athletes.”

Concurrently, “Male athletes accounted for approximately 70% of all athletes targeted by online abuse.”

In an unprecedented unification of sports power, leagues led by MLB, MLS, NBA, WNBA, NFL, NHL, NWSL and Nascar and current and former athletes and coaches including Billie Jean King (pictured below), Shaquille O’Neal, Candace Parker, Andy Reid and Doc Rivers have joined to support “Timeout Against Hate,” a multi-media campaign under the auspices of Robert Kraft's Foundation to Combat Antisemitism.

The effort comes less than a month until the Presidential Election.

Kraft, majority owner of the New England Patriots, launched the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism in 2019 “to stand up to Jewish hate and all hate.”

The WNBA in 2024 experienced amazing growth in attendance, TV viewership, media and marketing, but also was plagued with abuse of its players via social media and other areas.

“This growth has not come without growing pains,” WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert said during a media conference just prior to the current WNBA Finals between the New York Liberty and Minnesota Lynx. “The hateful speech and threats directed at our players are troubling. That type of conduct is not representative of the WNBA's character or fan base.

“As a league, we stand united in condemning racism and all forms of hate. The WNBA is one of the most inclusive and diverse professional sports leagues in the world, and we will continue to champion those values.

“We'll meet with the Players Association, the players, teams. We'll work together to expand and enhance our efforts and are going to approach this multi-dimensionally, utilizing technology, prioritizing mental health, reinforcing physical security and increasing monitoring. We know there's more work to be done, and as a league, we are fully committed to listening to the players and other stakeholders on this and other important issues.”

According to the commissioner, “There's no place in sports for this. Just continue to condemn it, continue to be a voice on this.

In connection with the FIFA 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, FIFA undertook a major multi-platform strategy to protect players from social media trolls who send abusive, discriminatory, and/or threatening messages to teams and players as well as protecting players during games.

FIFA joined with FIFPRO — the worldwide representative organization for professional footballers — to coordinate and implement a plan on how to protect participating teams, players, officials, and supporters from abuse on social media during its international tournaments.

FIFA also engaged Social Media Protection Service, a package of tools designed to protect participants at FIFA events.

As a result, the global soccer organization said that more than “300 individuals who made abusive, discriminatory, or threatening posts/comments during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 have been verifiably identified and this information will be shared with the relevant member associations and jurisdictional law authorities to facilitate real-world action being taken against offenders.”

Among the mental health and wellbeing initiatives put in place at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 this summer, the IOC said a new “Mind Zone proved a hit, with 92% of the athletes and entourage members who visited the space satisfied.

Delivered in partnership with Worldwide Olympic Partner Coca-Cola through its Powerade brand, the Mind Zone “featured a bespoke, immersive virtual reality mindfulness experience, which took place in disconnection pods and encouraged athletes to try calming breathing and visualization exercises.”

It was located within the Olympic Village on the first floor of the Fitness Centre.

Pro Leagues, Athletes, Coaches Unite To Support Robert Kraft’s ‘Timeout Against Hate’

WNBA Commissioner Engelbert: 'Transformational Year But Not Without Growing Pains'

FIFA Intensifies Crackdown, Trackdown Of Online Trolls

Back to Home Page