G2E panel: Signify Group releases athlete online harassment report
The data revealed that the largest percentage of NBA online abuse is homophobic in nature.
Key Points
- The study looked a six-month span between last November and this June
- Female athletes receive a constant stream of online abuse with sexist, misogynistic and sexually explicit overtones
Signify Group has published its latest report on student athlete harassment in collaboration with an NCCA study conducted between November 2023 and June 2024.
During this week’s G2E in Las Vegas, Signify Co-Founder and CEO Jonathan Hirshler gave a brief overview of the report and discussed what groups have played a role in player harassment, according to the data.
“The study is really wide,” Hirshler said, “and we can cover over 3000 student athletes, near to 500 coaches and nearly 200 events from 1.3 billion posts, messages and comments.”
The report said that 5,000 abusive messages were reported within the six-month time frame and 72,000 messages were triggered from the 1.3 billion posts examined.
Out of the total of abuse posts detected, 12% were related to sports betting and match-fixing, the report said.
One third of all detected abuse found in the study was sexual or sexist in nature. The research also showed that one in three players received targeted abuse from angry gamblers.
Hirshler said the company expected negative comments toward NBA athletes through social media platforms to be fueled by racism.
Good to know: Black players make up 70% of the student athlete demographic
However, Hirshler explained that the largest percentage of negative engagement with NBA athletes involved homophobic comments.
Hirshler also noted that derogatory comments toward male student athletes were connected to events, while harassment toward female athletes was constant and often sexually explicit and misogynistic in nature.
During the panel, the group took a moment to discuss what to do with these statistics and how to help players whose mental health has been negatively affected by online abuse.
Vice President of Performance Health at Women’s Tennis Association Lindsey Ayala said part of social media training for athletes involves providing them with mental health support resources; and ways to reach for support and help when experiencing online harassment.
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