- Tennis stars have access to a social media monitoring service at Wimbledon
- Organizers have a team of people, as well as artificial intelligence, that supervises
- British number 2 Harriet Dart spoke out about the negative messages online on Thursday
Wimbledon has launched a tougher crackdown on online abuse of players by launching a dedicated social media monitoring service for the first time during the championships.
British number 2 Harriet Dart spoke about the pitfalls of social media after her victory over British number 1 Katie Boulter.
The organizers are well aware that the amount of targeted online abuse is putting a strain on players, and they are therefore using artificial intelligence (AI) and a dedicated monitoring team to tackle the problem.
“This year marks the first time we have had an effective social media monitoring service specifically for this event,” said tournament organiser Jamie Baker.
“This is something you won’t see in the public domain at all, you won’t hear us shouting about it, but in fact we scroll through social media for these kinds of posts. [abusive] contents.
Wimbledon has launched a special social media monitoring service to help all participating players deal with abuse coming their way via social media.
“It means we can get information that we didn’t have in the past and we’re not just relying on what the player says is happening to them. If there’s something concerning, our security teams can potentially step in and help do something about it.”
Roland Garros previously had its own monitoring service for online player abuse, but Wimbledon did not follow suit.
Players can take advantage of different levels of monitoring, with the option to opt into what is described as a more comprehensive service.
“There are two parts to it and it depends on how far they want to go with the service,” Baker said.
‘Without going into details… if they want the full service, there is an element of opt-in, but basically it gives us the opportunity to really scan and gather information that can help them.
British No. 2 Harriet Dart spoke out on Thursday about the negative messages she receives online
‘The premise is that if we have something that is concerning or worth reporting, we will talk to the player and then determine the next steps.
“The advantage of this is that we have the ability to do some kind of official registration with the right people there.
“We wouldn’t take these steps without first talking to the player or his team and trying to get a picture of what’s going on.”
Baker added: “We don’t intervene and we don’t become police officers, but it’s important to try to help. [players].
