According to an artificial intelligence-led detection system, 48% of the 12,000 offensive social media messages about tennis stars this year are the work of irate gamblers.
The United States Tennis Association (USTA), the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC), and the International Tennis Federation (ITF) launched a program at the end of last year that tracks posts on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and X.
This year, this program called Threat Matrix garnered 2.47 million posts between January and October. About 12,000 posts and comments violated the social media platform community guidelines. These accounts were sent to social networking sites for removal of the abusive posts, or in extreme situations, for deletion of the entire account. Fifteen accounts had abuse that exceeded criminal thresholds and were reported to national law authorities for further action.
WTA Players’ Council member and former world number one Victoria Azarenka expressed her satisfaction with the system’s contribution to ensuring a healthier online environment for athletes. She stated: “It was essential for the WTA and these partner organisations to take meaningful steps toward filtering, blocking, and reporting hateful and harmful comments… No-one should have to endure the hate that so many of us have faced through these platforms.”
Moreover, Jonathan Hirshler, chief executive of the Signify Group, which runs Threat Matrix, said: “We are extremely pleased to have helped close down a considerable number of prolific abusive accounts and identified clear drivers for abuse, including a large number of angry gamblers.”
The Threat Matrix, which is available in 39 languages, safeguards 563 players participating in WTA tournaments and 7,739 players participating in ITF World Tennis Tour events. It also covers chair umpires and all players participating in the main events and qualifying rounds of the US Open and Wimbledon.
Source: BBC