Coalition to combat online abuse on sports forums hears spike in hate speech against athletes on social media platforms
We call for the urgent establishment of a credible flagging agency in Ireland to deal swiftly with online abuse complaints on social media platforms.
Preliminary insights from a study led by Dublin City University show that homophobic language has increased at UEFA Football Championships over the past decade.
Dublin, 24.07.17
Online abuse of athletes at all levels and disciplines has reached disturbing levels, according to speakers at the United Against Online Abuse (UAOA) in Sport forum in Dublin yesterday, Tuesday 16 July. The forum, hosted by international law firm Clark Hill in partnership with the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), founder of the UAOA coalition, highlighted the growing prevalence of online hate speech targeting athletes.
Chaired by ‘Off the Ball’ presenter Ger Gilroy, the forum featured prominent Irish sports figures Jenny Claffey (Ireland Padel and former Irish tennis player), Leah Tarpey (Leinster and Irish rugby player) and Tom Parsons (Chief Executive of the Gaelic Players Association and former County Mayo player). Clark Hill is the UAOA Union’s legal adviser.
One of the key proposals discussed among the 50 attendees was the creation of an international Trusted Flagger body, which would allow sports organizations to quickly address complaints and remove notices of abusive comments from online platforms, in line with EU digital services law. Once established, online platforms would have to agree on protocols and processes to crack down on online abuse with the Trusted Flagger body.
Senior representatives from major sporting sponsors, the Irish Mental Health Board and national and international sporting bodies attended, calling for immediate action and saying Ireland was the perfect place for these international bodies to be involved. Ireland has a strong regulatory and legal system with a wealth of experience and the necessary expertise. That’s according to Kirby Tarrant, managing partner at Clark Hill. Dublin already hosts the EMEA headquarters of social media giants such as Google, Meta/Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Other large online platforms also have a large presence here.
Article 22 of the Digital Services Act states that online platform providers must take the necessary technical and organisational measures to ensure that notices submitted by credible flaggers within their designated field of expertise are given priority and are processed and decided without unnecessary delay.
According to the DSA, ‘Trusted Flagger’ status is granted only to applicants who demonstrate that: (a) they have the specific expertise and capabilities necessary to detect, identify and notify illegal content; (b) they are independent of online platform providers; and (c) they conduct their activities with the purpose of submitting notifications diligently, accurately and objectively.
The United Forum to End Online Violence has highlighted the urgent need for an integrated approach to combating online violence to protect the integrity of sport and the wellbeing of athletes.
“Imagine training your whole life for your dream and then being bombarded with threats and hate online. This is the reality for 75% of athletes today.“FIA President and UAOA Federation founder Mohamed Ben Sulayem said in his opening speech at the forum. “If we remain idle and athletes are forced out of sport because of online abuse, we will lose the spirit of competition. Today, a force for good is rising with the United Against Online Abuse campaign, with governments, sporting bodies and institutions joining hands. Today’s forum is a crucial step in launching the pillars of our campaign.”
United Against Online Abuse (UAOA) is a research-led coalition to tackle the growing prevalence of online abuse and hate speech in sport. Dublin City University is a key research partner of the UAOA coalition and has produced several research reports, while the UAOA campaign is funding six postgraduate research fellows at DCU. The initiative is a collaborative mission between national governments, regulators and peer sporting bodies, with the aim of building a global coalition to tackle online abuse within the sporting ecosystem.
Kirby Tarrant, managing partner at Clark Hill, emphasized the importance of the initiative. “Online abuse in sport is not just a problem for athletes and teams, it impacts sponsors, fans and the sporting community as a whole. Clark Hill is proud to join the United Against Online Abuse (UAOA) coalition with the FIA. This initiative is part of our ongoing commitment to provide meaningful solutions and create a safer online environment for the sporting community.”
Editor’s note:
About the United Against Online Abuse Coalition:
So far, the UAOA coalition has received support from the governments of Albania, Belgium, France, Greece, Malaysia, Slovenia and Spain, as well as several international sports federations including FIFA, IOC, ITF, World Athletics, World Netball and World Squash. The campaign is supported by the FIA Foundation.
https://unitedagainstonlineabuse.com/
About Clark Hill:
Clark Hill Dublin is part of a law firm of over 700 attorneys in 27 locations across the United States, Mexico and Ireland, with a broad range of full-service expertise including corporate and commercial law, property law, restructuring and bankruptcy, and dispute resolution.
