Member Article

The technology exists to protect sport, its players and brands from toxic online hate – it’s time to embrace it and make social media social

This is the view of Matthew McGrory, CEO and founder of UK marketing tech business, Arwen AI, who have developed a solution which enables sponsors, rights holders and individuals working in the sports industry to remove spam, hate and abusive comments from social media by automatically detecting unwanted content.

The solution can help protect players and social media moderators from toxic online environments and increase return on advertising spend for brands and sponsors in the sports industry by creating safer, more positive and inclusive online communities.

Arwen AI was founded in 2020 in response to the online abuse directed at the TV personality Caroline Flack, which contributed to her tragic death, and the concept was developed further during the Euro 2020 final, following the abuse directed at England footballers Marcus Rashford, Bukayo Saka and Jadon Sancho after their penalty shootout misses.

The need to get this solution into the hands of the people affected has never been greater, with social media hate growing by 40% since 2020 and spam content by 350% each year. A multitude of stars set to light up this month’s FIFA World Cup have spoken out in recent months about abusive messages and comments they have received on social media, including Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo and England’s Harry Maguire, who have experienced unprecedented levels of online hate over the past 12 months.

Online toxicity is also damaging to the brands and sponsors who invest considerably in the World Cup, as it limits the reach of advertising. Seeing pornography, fraud bots, as well as racist, homophobic and sexist abuse next to sponsored or paid content causes 38% of followers to disengage from it, and leads to a 34% reduction in return on advertising spend.

Arwen AI works by using artificial intelligence to remove spam, hate and other unwanted content from social media. Its unique platform blends proprietary algorithms with algorithms hand-selected from the open market, to continually scan for 24 types of unwanted content, in 29 languages.

Each Arwen client has a tailored version of Arwen working for them, personalised to their values. Arwen score every comment instantly and when an item is found that breaks the client’s tolerances, it automatically hides it from the view of the community – all in under one second.

Arwen AI protects 423 million users globally. Sports clients include the FIA, Mercedes AMG F1, Burnley FC, Northampton Saints and Michael Owen. The company also works with Comic Relief, comedian Rosie Jones and politician Steve Baker MP. Earlier this month Arwen announced a ground-breaking partnership with the FIA which will see its technology used to tackle the amount of online abuse in motorsport.

For Mercedes AMG F1, the use of Arwen AI removed 93% of spam at an average speed of 0.8 seconds and saw toxic comments on their social channels reduced by 70%. This contributed to a safer and more inclusive online community, where 29.4% of followers felt more confident to engage with content, free from fear of a toxic backlash.

Matthew McGrory, CEO and founder of Arwen AI, commented, “We’re frustrated that social media has become increasingly toxic, negatively impacting on the experience of users – both in terms of high-profile individuals receiving vile abuse on a daily basis and everyday users trying to engage positively with content in an increasingly negative environment.

“However, we also need to be practical - just as we can’t eradicate hate from the offline world, we shouldn’t expect to eradicate it from the online world. Regulation and action from the networks are both important, but hoping for it to create an online utopia is dangerously optimistic. Instead, our mission at Arwen is to provide the people and brands being affected with protection today.

“The alternative is what we’re seeing: brands are either becoming more deterred from sponsoring the incredible sports and athletes we love watching, or are suffering from a poorer return on investment due to social media users understandably turning their backs on content which attracts spam, porn bots and hateful comments.

“Our solution helps rights holders, individual athletes and sponsors foster a more positive and inclusive online environment which creates a more inviting space in which users can post and engage with content, which in turn helps to drive the commercial potential of athletes and return on investment for brands.

“We’re committed to making social media more social.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Lucie Hayes .