Leader in artificial intelligence (AI)-based analysis Stats Perform announced a new initiative aimed at addressing the issue of online media abuse in sports. The analysis specialist will host a webinar on the hot subject Thursday, October 7, 2021.

Challenges to Identify Abuse

“The impact of online abuse on professional sports” webinar will be hosted under the recently signed partnership with Signify. As per this partnership, Stats Perform’s Integrity Unit and the British ethical science group agreed to work hand in hand to bring the best-in-class solution built around AI and machine learning tools that will effectively monitor in real-time online abuse aimed at athletes, organizations, sporting bodies and other stakeholders in sport.

The partnership is set to leverage Threat Matrix, an AI-powered monitoring and analysis capabilities solution provided by Signify, with Stats Perform’s expertise within sports to further enhance the level of protection for individuals and organizations in sport from online abuse.

Besides capabilities to unmask abusers and identify trends, tactics and technologies deployed to send hate online, Threat Matrix offers proactive analysis and monitoring of millions of posts in social media across multiple platforms, recognizing emojis, keywords, phrases and terms used in multiple languages to identify abuse.

The webinar that will emphasize the partnership between Signify and Stats Perform, will be co-hosted by Nick Iliffe, senior integrity manager at Stats Perform, and Jonathan Hirshler, CEO of Signify, and will focus on the current status of social media abuse in sports and the obstacles stakeholders meet to tackle the matter head-on.

Application of AI and Machine Learning

Both partners will provide detailed analysis during the webinar on how leveraging AI and machine learning will help to overcome the complex challenges related to abuse identification and ensure successful monitoring, identifying, and singling out of online abuse in real-time.

Considering online abuse in sport as a threat to its integrity, Stats Perform continues with its efforts to raise awareness about the issue among sports fans and athletes, leagues and teams, as well as other stakeholders, to help them recognize any vile attempt and take action to ensure enjoyment and integrity in sports in maintained.

The issue of online hate is further exacerbated by a shift toward more and more digital interaction that began even prior to the period of coronavirus-related restrictions imposed on the society. The trend was also confirmed by survey Stat Perform conducted in the summer.

According to the 2021 Fan Engagement Report released by the analysis specialist, sports managed not only to survive but also thrive under the new circumstances only due to the digital solutions at disposal. Analyzing data from over 150 sport-related entities globally, Stat Perform concluded serious changes were coming to the sports industry.