Official announcements from World Athletics

World Athletics Provides AI Protection to 25 Athletes After Four-Year Study on Online Abuse at Paris 2024 Olympics

Dec 19, 2024, 10:56 AM

World Athletics has initiated a program to provide year-round AI protection on social media platforms for 25 athletes who were identified as targets of online abuse during major events. This decision follows a comprehensive four-year study analyzing online abuse across two Olympic Games and two World Athletics Championships, involving 2,438 athletes. The study, which utilized Signify Group's Threat Matrix service, analyzed over 1.4 million posts or comments across platforms like X, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. It found that racism, sexism, and sexualized abuse were prevalent, with 18% of verified abuse being racist, 13% sexual in nature, and 17% sexist. Notably, during the Paris 2024 Olympics, two athletes received 82% of all recorded abuse. World Athletics President Sebastian Coe emphasized the organization's commitment to athlete welfare, stating that measures will continue to be implemented to ensure athletes can safely engage with social media.