FIA-commissioned report takes aim at social media companies for not curbing online abuse in sports
An FIA-commissioned report on online abuse takes aim at social media companies for not doing more to curb targeted attacks toward everyone from athletes, officials and even fans
An FIA-commissioned report on online abuse in sports released Thursday suggests social media companies should do more to curb targeted attacks toward athletes, officials and even fans.
The United Against Online Abuse Campaign surveyed 22 global sporting federations, among them FIFA, World Athletics, the International Tennis Federation, and the FIA, which is the governing body for Formula One and other European motorsports series.
FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem began planning the campaign when a female race steward received online threats after her ruling against Spaniard Fernando Alonso during a 2022 race. That came after Nicholas Latifi was subjected to death threats after his race-changing crash in the closing laps altered the 2021 season finale.
When people are abused online, the report's authors wrote, why do "the social media publishers fail to adopt more obvious forms of intervention?" The report asked why social media platforms aren't immediately removing harmful content, pursuing perpetrators and banning them.
