- The OMC Group is committed to making non-binding recommendations to relevant stakeholders to reduce occurrences of online hate speech in sport
- Danish player union director Michael Sahl Hansen represented FIFPRO Europe at the OMC Group
- In February, the Danish player union launched a campaign in partnership with government-owned broadcaster and the association of Danish clubs to combat hate speech and discriminatory behaviour
Danish player union director Michael Sahl Hansen represented FIFPRO Europe at the Open Method of Coordination (OMC) Group on combatting online hate speech in sport last week at the European Commission.
The key objective of the OMC Group is to make non-binding recommendations to relevant stakeholders to reduce occurrences of online hate speech in sport, based on policy analysis, examples of good practices, and sanctioning occurrences of hate speech in sport.
“Player unions have a fundamental responsibility to protect the health, safety, and wellbeing of the athletes they represent, something which extends beyond physical safety on the field to encompass all aspects of a player's professional environment,” said Sahl Hansen
“Social media abuse is something our members are experiencing more and more. As the online sphere has become an extension of a player’s workplace, it’s vital that unions take a proactive stance on combatting online hate.”
In 2022 FIFPRO, the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA), and the Women’s National Basketball Players Association (WNBPA) released the first international study looking at the nature and level of online abuse directed at professional athletes in multiple sports: Decoding Online Abuse of Players.
It details how racism and homophobia accounted for the overwhelming majority of verified targeted abuse towards men’s football players (in 85 percent of cases) and basketball players (74 percent of cases). Four out of five instances of abuse directed at women’s basketball players included sexually explicit or harassment messages.
In the same year, FIFPRO and FIFA provided an in-tournament moderation service at the 2022 FIFA World Cup, known as the Social Media Protection Service (SMPS), that scanned recognised hate speech and, once detected, prevented that comment from being seen by the recipient and their followers. The SMPS support was also provided to players at the Women’s World Cup the following year.
“It’s hugely important FIFPRO and FIFA are taking action and protecting players on this matter,” said Mark-Anthony Kaye in 2022, who represented Canada at that World Cup and who suffered horrendous racial abuse online after a World Cup qualifier. “All tools should be used to help on this, and finally someone is putting this topic on the agenda.”
The SMPS at the 2022 World Cup scanned over 20 million posts and comments on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube throughout the tournament and, following specialist AI flagging of abusive comments, strengthened by two layers of human analysis, 19,636 posts/comments were confirmed by the service provider as abusive, discriminatory, or threatening.
Additionally, participating teams and players at the tournament were offered access to moderation software that would instantly and automatically hide offensive comments (including spam) from their pages, with a total of 286,895 comments hidden from public view before the targeted recipient or their followers had to see their contents.
Sahl Hansen added: “Player unions must negotiate with employers and governing bodies to ensure that comprehensive protection extends to these digital workplaces. This includes establishing clear protocols for prevention, monitoring, and intervention when players face online abuse, as well as advocating for technological and policy solutions that safeguard players' mental and emotional wellbeing.”
‘Stop Before The Line’ – How Spillerforeningen is collaborating with stakeholders to jointly fight player abuse
In February, Danish player union Spillerforeningen launched a campaign to combat hate speech and discriminatory behaviour called Stop Before The Line in partnership with Danish government-owned broadcaster TV2 and the association of Danish clubs Divisionsforeningen.
In 2022, a Spillerforeningen survey showed 65 percent of players in the 3F Superliga (Danish top-flight) received hate messages.
The Stop Before The Line campaign is prominent in stadiums via big screens, banners, posters and stewards' vests, while viewers tuning into 3F Superliga matches at home are greeted by Stop Before The Line graphics before and during matches.
“With Stop Before The Line, we’re jointly saying no to discrimination and transgressive behaviour and showing that it has no place in sport or society,” said Sahl Hansen.
