Landmark prosecution for online abuse of Rugby World Cup match official
Following work at the Rugby World Cup 2023, Signify welcomed the prosecution of an individual who sent abusive messages on social media targeting a Rugby World Cup 2023 match official and members of his family. The Television Match Official (TMO) and his wife received threatening and abusive messages via Facebook during the major event in France last year.
Protecting Women’s Sport from Online Abuse - Intl Women’s Day 2024
Women’s sport is thriving. With stadium sell-outs, attendance records repeatedly being broken, and 46.7 million fans watching women’s sport in 2023 – the visibility of women’s sport has never been higher. But Online Abuse is on a parralel track - how do we deal with that? Signify’s Georgia Relf explores the issue on International Women’s Day 2024
Tennis Governing Bodies select Threat Matrix to protect the Global Game
The ITF, WTA, AELTC and USTA have announced the launch of a Threat Matrix powered proactive monitoring initiative to protect athletes from online abuse and threats. Tennis players are subject to significant levels of social media abuse and other inappropriate online contact, which poses risks to preparation, performance and mental health. The service will begin on 1 January 2024.
NCAA Launches Ground-Breaking Initiative with Signify to Study Online Abuse in US College Sports
The NCAA has announced an innovative engagement with Signify Group to provide its Threat Matrix artificial intelligence service to support the Association in studying and responding to online abuse and threats directed at NCAA Championship participants including student-athletes, coaches, officials and committee members.
Loughborough University partner with Signify Group
Loughborough University and Signify Group have announced a strategic partnership that will see them collaborate on academic research and innovative data studies to explore and better understand the phenomenon of online abuse in sport.
Esports study highlights community role in tackling online abuse
Signify Group partnered with German Insurance provider ARAG to conduct a first-of-its-kind initiative, using AI to analyse online toxicity in Esports. Working with over 5.5m comments on streams and posts from 250 e-sports talents over a 3 month period the study illuminates the true picture of online abuse in Esports.
Threat Matrix selected for Rugby World Cup
World Rugby has selected Signify Group and our AI-driven Threat Matrix service to put an online protective shield around all tournament match officials, players and coaches at the Rugby World Cup 2023.
Signify Launches Dedicated Sport Division
Signify have launched a new Sports Division, appointing Jake Marsh as Head of Signify Sport. The news reflects the huge success Signify has experienced over the last two years, in particular around its AI-driven service, Threat Matrix, which helps sports leagues, international federations, clubs and major events protect athletes and officials from online abuse.
FIFA marks the UN International Day for Countering Hate Speech
Signify celebrates the UN International Day for Countering Hate Speech by reflecting on FIFA’s recent work at FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ - where their Social Media Protection Service proactively protected players, officials and fans from online abuse at scale.
Signify’s Threat Matrix delivering results for Arsenal FC
Arsenal Football Club have announced the banning of 18 fans identified by Signify's Threat Matrix service. As part of an ongoing drive by the club to tackle online abuse and discrimination, Threat Matrix has been activated by the club, who have also requested a three year extension to the service.
Rio Ferdinand + Threat Matrix
Former England international and Man Utd captain Rio Ferdinand has released a ground-breaking documentary series examining racism, homophobia and mental health issues in football. The documentary - Tipping Point - features powerful research from Signify’s Threat Matrix team as part of a year-long analysis of online racist targeting of professional footballers..
Global Sport versus Online Abuse
FIFA’s report exploring the issues around Online Abuse is one of many Signify have produced for world governing bodies and sports organisations. What can sports clubs learn and what action can they take? This article looks at the issues highlighted by these studies and the actions Signify’s work is facilitating across world sport.
Decoding online abuse in basketball and football
FIFPRO, NBPA and WNBPA have teamed up with Signify to publish a unique study covering online abuse targeting stars of world football and basketball. This first-of-its-kind study reveals the disturbing levels of online abuse targeting the stars of global football and basketball. The study covers 160 players across 15 leagues in the world’s two most popular team sports.
World Athletics + Signify publish study covering Athlete online abuse at Tokyo Olympic Games
World Athletics have partnered with Signify Group to publish findings of a study conducted during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. The World governing body for athletics used Signify’s specialist Threat Matrix methodology to identify and address targeted, discriminatory, abusive and threatening messages sent to athletes via social media.
Threat Matrix selected by Arsenal FC
English Premier League club Arsenal FC have selected Threat Matrix, Signify’s Proactive Monitoring service to support the club’s work in protecting players, officials and fans of the club from online hate and discriminatory abuse.
Signify + Stats Perform
Signify have partnered with global leaders in Sports data - Stats Perform to scale access to Threat Matrix, Signify’s proprietary service that detects and evidences online abuse on social media.
Real Action against Online Abuse
Following the disgraceful online abuse sent to England’s Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka after the Euro 2020 Final, Signify CEO, Jonathan Hirshler and Quest Director, Sir Mark Rowley appeared on CNN’s Connect the World and BBC Radio 4’s PM programme to talk about what can be done to improve the situation.
How Team GB survived pandemic
Ahead of the Olympic games in Tokyo, we look at which sports have managed to spike and maintain public interest during the year-long delay to the games in Japan.
A proactive response to online abuse
Signify have developed a powerful AI-driven response to online abuse - Threat Matrix. We explore the capabilities, why they’ve been developed and what we hope to achieve in the long-term.
Trumpland pt 4: Life After Trump
President Trump’s Alt-Right media base drove over a billion social media interactions during the second half of 2020 and had a huge influence on public opinion and mainstream media. In the final part of our Trumpland series, we analyse these and look at the legacy they have left for US politics.