Dublin, 17.07.24

The online abuse of athletes at all levels and disciplines has reached disturbing levels, according to speakers at the United Against Online Abuse (UAOA) in Sport coalition forum held in Dublin yesterday, Tuesday, July 16th. The forum, hosted by international law firm Clark Hill in collaboration with the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), founders of the UAOA coalition, highlighted the growing epidemic of online hate speech targeting athletes.

Chaired by the ‘Off the Ball’ presenter Ger Gilroy, the forum featured prominent Irish sports stars Jenny Claffey (Ireland Padel & former Ireland Tennis player), Leah Tarpey (Leinster & Ireland Rugby player), and Tom Parsons (Chief Executive of the Gaelic Players Association and former Mayo county player). Clark Hill is the legal advisor to the UAOA coalition.

One of the key proposals discussed amongst the 50 attendees was the establishment under the EU Digital Services Act of an international Trusted Flagger entity for sports organisations to fast track complaints and take down notices of abusive comments on online platforms. Once established the online platforms would be required to agree protocols and processes for policing online abuse with the Trusted Flagger entity.

Senior representatives present from major sports sponsors; the Irish Mental Health Commission and national and international sports bodies called for immediate action and said that Ireland is the obvious choice for such an international entity. Ireland has an experienced and robust regaulatory and legal system with the expertise necessary said Kirby Tarrant, Partner In Charge at Clark Hill. Dublin already hosts the EMEA headquarters for social media giants such as Google; Meta/Facebook;  Twitter and LinkedIn. Other Very Large Online Platforms have a major presence here also.   

Article 22 of the Digital Services Act sets out that providers of online platforms shall take the necessary technical and organisational measures to ensure that notices submitted by Trusted Flagger acting within their designated area of expertise are given priority and processed and decided upon without undue delay.

Under the DSA , the status of ‘trusted flagger’ shall be awarded, on application by an entity to an applicant that has demonstrated that it has (a) It has particular expertise and competence for the purposes of detecting, identifying and notifying illegal content; (b) It is independent from any provider of online platforms; (c) It carries out its activities for the purposes of submitting notices diligently, accurately and objectively.

The United Against Online Abuse forum highlighted the urgent need for a unified approach to combating online abuse, aiming to protect the integrity of sport and the well-being of athletes.

“Imagine training your entire life for a dream only to be bombarded with threats and hate online. That’s the reality for 75% of athletes today,” stated Mohammed Ben Sulayem, President of the FIA and founder of the UAOA coalition, in his opening remarks at the forum. “If we remain idle and athletes are driven from their sports due to online abuse, we will lose the very spirit of competition. Today, a force of good rises with the United Against Online Abuse campaign. Governments, sporting bodies, and institutions are joining hands. Today’s forum is a pivotal step in commencing our campaign’s pillars.”

The United Against Online Abuse campaign (UAOA) is a research-led coalition aiming to tackle the growing epidemic of online abuse and hate speech in sport. Dublin City University are the major research partners of the UAOA coalition and have produced a number of research reports and the UAOA campaign are funding six postgraduate research students at DCU. This initiative is a collaborative mission between national governments, regulatory institutions, and fellow sporting bodies with the objective of building a global coalition to tackle online abuse within the sporting ecosystem.

Kirby Tarrant, Partner In Charge at Clark Hill, emphasised the importance of the initiative: "Online abuse in sports is not just a problem for athletes and teams, it impacts sponsors, fans, and the sports community as a whole. Clark Hill is proud to be part of the United Against Online Abuse (UAOA) coalition with the FIA. This initiative is part of our ongoing effort to provide meaningful solutions and foster a safer online environment in the sports community.”

Editor’s Notes:

About United Against Online Abuse Coalition:

To date, the UAOA coalition has received endorsements from the governments of Albania, Belgium, France, Greece, Malaysia, Slovenia, Spain, and several international sports federations including FIFA, the IOC, the ITF, World Athletics, World Netball, and World Squash. The campaign is supported by the FIA Foundation.

https://unitedagainstonlineabuse.com/

About Clark Hill:

Clark Hill Dublin is part of a law firm of more than 700 lawyers across 27 locations in the U.S., Mexico and Ireland with wide-ranging full-service expertise that includes corporate and commercial law, property law, restructuring and insolvency, and dispute resolution.

http://www.clarkhill.com