Summary
A BBC investigation found that over 2,000 abusive social media posts, including death and rape threats, were directed at managers and players in the Premier League and Women's Super League over a single weekend. The analysis showed that managers received more abuse than players, with most messages coming from accounts in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. Both automated AI systems and human reviews helped identify the abusive content.
Key Facts
- More than 2,000 abusive social media posts were sent during one weekend about football managers and players.
- Most of the abuse targeted managers, especially in the Premier League and Women's Super League.
- 82% of the abusive messages were on X, a social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
- Premier League managers Ruben Amorim, Arne Slot, and Eddie Howe were frequent targets.
- Chelsea's manager Sonia Bompastor received 50% of the abuse in the Women's Super League.
- 61% of the abusive messages came from accounts based in the UK and the Republic of Ireland.
- An AI system called Threat Matrix scanned over 500,000 social media posts to identify abusive content.
- Of the flagged abuses, 39 posts were serious enough for further investigation, and some were reported to football clubs or law enforcement.
