Charlotte Caslick remembers well the day her heavily favoured Australian women’s Rugby Sevens team failed to win a medal at the Paris Olympics – and the online vitriol that followed.
A decade in rugby has toughened Caslick to social media criticism, but the 30-year-old admits the abusive messages had a profound impact on her teammates.
“After Paris, when we didn’t perform how we wanted to, there were a few messages around,” Caslick said. “Some players [were] quite sensitive to that.
“A lot of people seem to be getting fed up by anonymous trolls. Some athletes are exposed to some really nasty things online, which no one should have to go through.”
Social media has brought sports stars and their fans closer than ever, but with that accessibility has come an increasing trend of targeted abuse. Now, however, a new AI-powered app offers hope to sporting bodies and beyond in the fight against harmful trolling.
Rugby Australia has inked a deal with Social Project, which has developed technology that automatically detects then deletes abusive comments in real time before they reach the comments sections The app is now at the disposal of every player in the rugby community, from grassroots to elite levels.
Charlotte Caslick says unnerving online comments done get to her, but her teammates are sensitive to them.Credit: Getty Images
It comes off the back of an internal two-month trial across 10 of RA’s social media accounts, including the Wallabies, Wallaroos and Rugby Sevens, in which the software deleted more than 1500 abusive comments.
Shane Britten, founder of Social Protect, said his product draws upon a library of more than two million keywords and emojis across 100 different languages, including offensive words. Users can also add targeted words to the database which they find personally offensive.
“The proportion that the female athletes receive across the board is much higher on average – that can go as high as 350 per cent more abuse than their male peers,” Britten said.
“We saw in the trial everything across the board. It was racism, it was generalised hatred, it was misogyny, it was body-shaming, it was a whole range of spam.”
Women generally received more vulgar and sexualised comments based on appearance, while men tended to receive derogatory remarks relating to on-field performance, Rugby Australia’s head of integrity Amy Thorp said.
Rugby Australia CEO Phil Waugh said the new technology should set the benchmark for other sports.
“By making the app available across the entire rugby ecosystem, we’re proud to be leading the way in Australian sport and sending a clear message that abuse and harassment – online or offline – have no place in rugby,” Waugh said.
Caslick, too, welcomed the innovation.
“I think just the fact that no one will actually see the comments that they receive, if they’re nasty, whether that’s about performance, how they look, where they come from … I think it’s a great thing that they don’t have to be exposed to it,” she said.
