Roland-Garros Participants Social Media Platforms ‘Moderated’ For Harassment
Monday, May 22, 2023 at 04:55PM By Barry Janoff
Photo: Roland-GarrosMay 22, 2023: In what organizers said was a first for its event, Roland-Garros and the French Tennis Federation (FFT) today made an anti-online harassment and hate speech tool available to all the players at the 2023 Grand Slam.
According to Roland-Garros and FFT, “The social media accounts of tennis players attract insults, death threats, and hateful and sometimes racist and homophobic comments made by trolls.”
French tech firm Bodyguard.ai will “provide the organizers with daily reports (including number of messages received, number of messages deleted), alert them in real time in the event of an identified attack, and can even — at the request of the FFT — provide extracts of messages and the identities of the culprits in the event of legal action.”
The Tournament runs May 28-June 11, with qualifying matches this week.
Platforms being monitored include Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok and Discord.
“It’s great for the mental well-being of the players,” tournament director Amelie Mauresmo said via Roland-Garros.
“It clears the mind and will help everyone have a little more freedom on the court. I can’t wait to see how the players react to it.”
“Social media is a major conduit for expressing hate and hostility, all under the cover of anonymity,” Yann Guerin, head of sport at Bodyguard.ai, said via the tech firm. “Tennis is one of the sports most affected by this curse.”
The Bodyguard.ai technology “safeguards the accounts of all players in the main draw and the official FFT and Roland-Garros accounts, with protection available in the lead-up to the tournament and for a few days after it.”
To activate the technology, all players need to do is scan a QR Code before connecting to their social media accounts.
Due to General Data Protection Regulations, private messages will not be moderated.
The FFT said it established a support unit in 2018 for French players, but has now “decided to step up its fight against online harassment using Bodyguard.ai technology, adopting a smart solution to moderate the players’ social media content during Roland-Garros.”
“Roland-Garros has always made it a priority to create a safe space for players on social media,” the FFT said via the organization.
“By connecting to this new system, they will be protected from all types of harassment (discrimination, insults, mockery, threats, etc) and be able to engage with their fans in complete safety and focus on their performance on the court.
According to Guerin, “We must be alert to this sad reality. There’s no avoiding it, as the cost of doing nothing is too high.
"The aim is to protect the players and their mental health directly and indirectly — because their entourages can also read these comments — and ban people intent on spreading hate and being aggressive.”
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