Social media abuse in tennis: Gamblers send 48% of offensive messages
According to an AI-led detection system, 48% of the 12,000 social media posts deemed abusive to tennis players this year were the work of angry gamblers.
The International Tennis Federation (ITF), Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) and the United States Tennis Association (USTA) joined forces late last year to launch a program to monitor posts on X, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Youtube.
Between January and October this year, the Threat Matrix service monitored 2.47 million posts.
Approximately 12,000 posts and comments violated the social media platform’s community guidelines.
The content is forwarded to the social media platform to remove the abuse, and in severe cases, the entire account can be deleted.
The abuse of 15 accounts breached criminal thresholds and was referred to state law enforcement for action.
Former world number one Victoria Azarenka, a long-time member of the WTA Players Council, said she was pleased the system was helping “create a healthier online environment”.
“The WTA and these partner organizations must take meaningful steps to filter, block and report hateful and harmful comments,” the 35-year-old Belarusian said.
“No one should have to endure the hate that so many of us face through these platforms.”
