Latest news with #socialmediaabuse
BBC News
8 hours ago
- Sport
- BBC News
I had first death threat at 18 - Watson on social media abuse
British tennis player Heather Watson says she has received social media abuse "daily" during her career and had her first death threat aged was speaking after compatriot Katie Boulter told BBC Sport about the scale of unsavoury and hurtful comments she has received online, including death Sir Andy Murray has said he is trying to keep his children away from social media and backed calls for more action to prevent abuse of sport stars."My first death threat was at 18," Watson told BBC Sport. "I told my friend [American tennis player] Sloane Stephens at the time. "The thing that shocked me the most, but also kind of made me feel better - because I told her I was scared as this person told me he was watching me and was going to kill me - was that she said 'girl, don't worry, I get these all the time'."I'm smiling now after so many years and such a long career. I receive abuse daily, but it is all in perspective. "It is all just sad people who have nothing better going in their lives than to sit behind their computer or phone and write that."I don't think anyone in their right mind would abuse someone online they have never met. It just goes over my head, it is just madness."Watson is preparing for Wimbledon and will face Danish 23rd seed Clara Tauson in the first round of the singles draw, having been handed a wildcard. She won the Wimbledon mixed doubles title in 2016 with Finland's Henri Kontinen and the pair again reached the final 12 months later. 'Abuse is the norm' Speaking to BBC Sport earlier this month Boulter said that receiving abusive content and death threats has become "the norm" for athletes and that "it becomes more apparent every single time you go on your phone".Murray, who retired from professional tennis in August 2024, said the prevalence of social media abuse "hasn't really changed", despite athletes speaking out on the subject for many Boulter's comments, fellow tennis players demanded more action, including calls for the introduction of identity verification on social of the England women's football team also plan to give up social media for their forthcoming European Championship defence in Minister Sir Keir Starmer told the BBC that the government will explore whether further protective measures can be put in place on social media platforms.
The Independent
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Lewis Hamilton reacts to ‘significant' social media abuse F1 drivers face
Lewis Hamilton has spoken out about the 'significant' abuse the current generation of Formula One drivers face on social media. The seven-time F1 world champion, 40, is the most-followed driver on Instagram with nearly 40 million followers, but did recently unfollow everybody he previously followed on his account. Jack Doohan, Yuki Tsunoda and F2 championship leader Alex Dunne are among the drivers who have experienced abuse online this year, while Lando Norris admitted he's no longer using social media. Doohan and his father, Mick, faced abuse from fans of Franco Colapinto in Imola last month, while Japanese driver Tsunoda also was on the receiving end of abuse from the same fanbase. Hamilton, in his 19th season in the sport, believes the current staple of drivers have been 'amazing' and 'mature' in the face of online abuse. 'The times have changed,' Hamilton, who co-produced the new F1 Movie, said. 'I would say the racing space has probably got a lot busier with the fame of the sport, so it's probably more intense. 'The media is more reactive, maybe. You've got social media presence and online abuse that we didn't have when I got into the sport. 'It's been pretty amazing to see how mature the young drivers that have come in – young men that have come in – have adapted and how they've carried that weight, because it's no easy situation to be thrown into.' Hamilton made his F1 debut in 2007 – almost winning the world championship with McLaren in his rookie year – and acknowledged he is grateful now that he didn't have to deal with social media. 'When I got there, it felt like being thrown into the deep end without having the skills to keep yourself afloat,' he said. 'But there wasn't the online stuff that you could see, and that's significant. 'There are probably even more demands on the drivers today, outside of the car, than ever before.' Hamilton, who joined Ferrari in the off-season, will be eyeing his first grand prix podium at the next race in Austria this weekend, before his home race at Silverstone next week (4-6 July).
Daily Mail
6 days ago
- Sport
- Daily Mail
Faceless online cowards will keep abusing Katie Boulter and Co until social media giants decide to care, writes RIATH AL-SAMARRAI
Jack Draper put it best. His view was offered in response to something Katie Boulter disclosed earlier this week, when she took the admirable step of sharing the filth that gets sent to her social media accounts. By now, we are well aware of the toxic messaging that regularly finds its way to an athlete's inbox — abusive, threatening, often from a faceless minority of low-lives who follow a bad bet with worse judgments on whom to blame.
BBC News
18-06-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Gambling and social media abuse of women in sport - what is going on?
When tennis player Katie Boulter revealed to the BBC the shocking scale of social media abuse she receives on social media, she emphasised that many angry messages feature references to to Signify, which has been working with tennis authorities on detecting abuse through an artificial intelligence-led detection system called Threat Matrix, a significant proportion of abuse sent to tennis players stems from gamblers who have lost the year, a category they call 'angry gamblers' sent 40% of all detected abuse, with messages clearly related to betting activity because of the timing or content of the for a response, a Betting and Gaming Council spokesperson said its members "do not tolerate abuse on social media, which has no place in betting or sport".It added: "It is vital social media companies take swift action against users, and remove offensive content."BBC Sport has looked at what exactly is going on with the relationship between gambling, tennis, women in sport and online abuse. What do we know about gambling in tennis? Tennis tournaments are played all around the world throughout most of the year, making it one of the most popular sports for regular gamblers to bet on.A source at one of the world's largest multi-platform gambling operators told the BBC that more than £100m is bet on tennis matches worldwide each spread of bets is roughly even across men's and women's tennis, tipped slightly higher in favour of the men's game because more matches take place on its Challenger tour, according to this the United Kingdom, 13% of all sports betters gambled on tennis in 2023, meaning the sport ranked fifth behind horse racing, football, golf and boxing, according to a YouGov survey, 16% of tennis gamblers spend over £200 per month on bets, according to the data, and 34% of them use websites which offer loyalty schemes for regular customers. That means some UK tennis gamblers spend big and spend regularly, meaning the stakes are higher when they perhaps provides an indication as to why the abuse Boulter and other players suffer is so often focused around work with around 30 players on moderating their private messages, and the proportion of abuse that comes from 'angry gamblers' is 77%. How does tennis handle gambling sponsorships? As is the case with other sports, the relationship between tennis and gambling has been a source of controversy for many over potential match-fixing and ethics have historically led to a reluctance to form official betting sponsorships have become highly lucrative as gambling has moved online. In an era where high-profile players have campaigned for more prize money and a greater share of sponsor revenue, tennis has begun to demonstrate an increased willingness to work with gambling 2023, 24-time Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic said players should be given a higher proportion of the revenue generated from gambling sponsorships in tennis."Personally, I probably would not get a betting sponsor on my sleeve but I know that probably 95+% of the players would do that," Djokovic said. "I would support that, but if that's not allowed then what we would deserve to have is 50% of the share that the tournament gets from these sponsorship deals with betting companies." In February, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) announced an extension of a deal with Stake - the Curacao-based gambling company which also sponsors sports teams including the Sauber Formula 1 team, and Everton - making it the official betting partner of the Davis Cup and Billie Jean King was subsequently found to have broken UK Gambling Commission rules by using pornographic content to promote gambling to young people, and abandoned its licence to operate in the ITF deal remains in place, and the BBC has contacted the governing body for Madrid Open, the Miami Open and Swedish Open are now sponsored by South Africa-based 2023, the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) signed a multi-year agreement with online gaming company FanDuel Group, applying to the Tour in North, South and Central WTA also sells its data to the company Stats Perform and the ATP to Sportradar, for them to distribute to licenced betting decision to sell rights in this way was to ensure betting was regulated, replacing the unregulated world of 'courtsiders'. What about women and gambling? Historically, men have represented the majority of gamblers in the UK, but data shows that the proportion of women is Gambling Commission (UKGC) data, external from 2022 found that 42% of women had gambled in the previous four weeks, and that those aged 35 to 54 were most likely to figures also include non-sports forms of gambling like casinos, slot machines and online bingo, but women are targeted by sports betting platforms too.A 2024 survey conducted by Stats Perform found that 44% of betting operators said that they want to grow their number of female the USA, meanwhile, investment bank Morgan Stanley estimates that 32% of sports betters are now the gambling operator which runs Paddy Power, said that 24% of all bets placed through its FanDuel brand during the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris were on women's events, with 60% of football bets placed on women's matches and 79% of gymnastics bets on women's events. How much is the UK gambling industry worth? According to the UKGC's latest figures, gambling firms earned revenue of £15.6bn between April 2023 and March 2024, an increase of £0.5bn on the previous means the UK gambling industry is worth more than double the UK music industry (valued at £7.6bn according to UK Music) and video games industry (valued at £7bn according to Equity, the performing arts and entertainment trade union).According to estimates, UK gambling companies spent more than £1.5bn on marketing in recent years, with a large portion of that going to television adverts. This rises to closer to £2bn when sponsorships are factored Office for Health Improvement and Disparities estimates that there are between 117 and 496 gambling-related suicides, external every year in England. Have any new gambling regulations come into effect? There has been a tightening of regulations in recent years in relation to gambling's marketing and sponsorship in relation to sport. They include:The whistle-to-whistle ban on gambling advertisements in football, which was implemented in 2019, prohibiting pre-watershed gambling advertising on TV from five minutes before kick-off until five minutes after full-timeA 2022 update to a rule on appealing to children – prior to the change, gambling adverts could not have "particular" appeal to children, whereas now they cannot have "strong" appeal to childrenLate last year the government announced new plans, including a levy to generate £100m for the research, prevention and treatment of gambling harms, and online slot stake limits of £5 for over 25s and £2 for young adults aged 18 to May the Health and Social Care Committee set out further measures they want the UK government to take in order to better protect people from the possible harms from measures requested include strengthening rules on advertising, taking a risk-based approach to regulation, and to develop a public information campaign addressing the risk of gambling-related suicides.
Daily Mail
18-06-2025
- Sport
- Daily Mail
Aussie tennis star Alex De Minaur reveals his theory about why his girlfriend Katie Boulter has copped sickening online abuse - and even death threats against her family
Alex de Minaur has supported his British fiancée and fellow tennis star Katie Boulter after she opened up on the social media abuse she receives. Boulter shared her experiences with BBC Sport to highlight the issue of professional players receiving toxic messages online. The 28-year-old's examples included a message telling her to buy 'candles and a coffin for your entire family' with a reference to her 'grandmother's grave if she's not dead by tomorrow', one stating she should 'go to hell' as she had cost the poster money, and another stating 'hope you get cancer '. Boulter said: 'I just wonder who the person is that has sent that. I don't think it's something that I would ever say to my worst enemy. It's just an awful, awful thing to say to anyone. It's horrible. 'It shows how vulnerable we are. You really don't know if this person is on site. You really don't know if they're nearby or if they know where you live or anything like that.' Following the interview, a fired up de Minaur has called for 'angry gamblers' to be held accountable. 'It's great for her to step up and shine a light into this, which is something that happens to every single tennis player out there. Every single athlete, I would say,' he said. 'Hopefully there is something that can be done about it. It's something that's been going on for a while now. It's something that a lot of people have spoken out against, but it doesn't change.' Boulter believes much of the abuse comes from gamblers who have lost money and de Minaur, speaking his his surprise defeat to Jiri Lehecka at Queen's, agreed. 'When you lose, you're feeling not in the best state emotionally, but then you've also got to deal with everything that happens behind the scenes with angry gamblers,' he said. 'I haven't gone on my social media yet, but I'm sure I'll have a lot of people not too happy with my result. 'Every single tennis player on the tour gets thousands, millions of messages every time they lose a match or they cost someone money betting on them. So it's something that you've gotten used to. 'I would love for it to be dealt with or fixed somehow, but I'm not too sure what's the answer.' The WTA and International Tennis Federation on Tuesday published their first report into online abuse of players after the launch of the Threat Matrix service last January. The report reveals 1.6million posts and comments were analysed, with around 8,000 directed at 458 players identified as abusive, violent or threatening. Five players received 26 per cent of the total abuse, while 40 per cent of the messages were identified as coming from angry gamblers. Fifteen accounts have been identified to law enforcement because of the serious and prolific nature of the messages, while details have been shared with security teams at tennis events to prevent individuals accessing venues.
