Sportradar to Safeguard Pro Athletes from Social Media Abuse

Professional athletes of all sports federations will be safeguarded from online abuse with the help of a new product by Sportradar. The product will aim at identifying and preventing online abuse against the athletes.

Industry-First Solution Aims to Reduce Abuse Against Professional Athletes

The multinational corporation Sportradar announced a new product tackling online media abuse and player protection. In a statement released today the company announced an industry-first solution which will support the sports organizations and safeguard athletes from social media abuse. The Intelligence and Investigation Services team by Sportradar will address the growing problem of online abuse against professional athletes.

Furthermore, the new service will be available for all sports federations, leagues and governing bodies. It is designed to protect the professional athletes’ mental health and well being. This will be accomplished by reducing online harm and discouraging abusive users with the help of investigation, prevention and intervention.

The New Product by Sportradar Already Trailed Successfully

Sportradar’s new service will focus on identifying individuals which use anonymous “troll” or burner accounts, which are used for online abuse. The team of experts by Sportradar will gather information for such individuals and then share it with partners pursuing the relevant course of action. Such actions can be the removal of the “troll” accounts from social media platforms as well as liaising with law enforcement aiming at legal proceedings against the abusive users.

Today we've launched our new player protection service which is designed to support sports organisations in safeguarding professional athletes from social media abuse.

Find out how it work here: https://t.co/vTU3IS68AX

— Sportradar (@Sportradar) August 17, 2020

Further to the announcement, the company said that that the new product was already trialed successfully at the Exo-Tennis Series across Germany and the US. ATP and WTA professional players Dustin Brown, Taylor Townsend and Sachia Vickery already shared abusive message which they received with Sportradar.

Consequently, the company said that it provided the event organizers with details on the abusive accounts and proposed a recommended course of action aiming at preventing abuse and “trolling”. In that line of thoughts, last week, Australian athletes united on social media against online abuse. Among the players who spoke out we find Andrew Bogut, a former NBA player who wrote on twitter: “Place a bet. Lose. Be an adult about it.“

The New Service Can Act as Deterrent to Future Online Abuse

Sportradar’s Managing Director of Integrity Services, Andreas Krannich commented by saying: “Maintaining the integrity of sport and ensuring that it’s safe, fair and enjoyable for all, has long been our priority.” He continued by saying that with the new service, the company strengthened its position in this area by safeguarding the athletes.

“We are providing a tangible output that our partners can share with their athletes and we’re providing support to those partners in pursuing an appropriate course of action,” added Krannich. He stressed that the new service can act as a deterrent to future online abuse.

According to him, the new service will create real change. Krannich outlined that the effect of the new program is expected to be similar to Sportradar’s Fraud Detection System which is on the lookout for match fixing. In conclusion, he said that for 11 years with the help of the Fraud Detection System more than 5,000 suspicious matches were reported.