The International Tennis Federation and International Tennis Integrity Agency stand united with all sports against social media abuse and support the social media boycott this weekend.
Tennis players, coaches and officials all over the world receive abusive messages through social media on a daily basis – and this is on the rise – referring to their race, their gender, their looks and their ability. Many contain vile and even death threats.
We are working hard to do our part to advise and protect those in our sport, worldwide.
It’s time for the social media companies to step up and support sport’s efforts to STOP SOCIAL ABUSE, everywhere.
ITF President, David Haggerty said: “Time and again we see the devastating impact that online abuse, threats and discriminatory language has on professional athletes, coaches and officials, not only in tennis but across sport. The level of abuse individuals are forced to endure is completely unacceptable, which is why we are joining this boycott and calling on social media companies to act now to protect individuals who are merely doing their jobs.”
ITIA CEO, Jonny Gray said, “We see significant numbers of messages from disgruntled gamblers, corruptors and others that get sent to players and they are shocking. Many contain death threats that cause real distress and long-term harm. Alongside our colleagues in the sport, we do our best to support and advise those who receive these messages, but social media companies could and should do more. They have a responsibility to their users to ensure that their platforms are not used as a tool to abuse or threaten anyone in tennis – or indeed, any sport.”
The social media boycott will take place from 15:00 BST on Friday 30 April to 23:59 BST on Monday 3 May.
If you need to raise a concern or report an issue please Contact the ITIA
Useful links with advice for reporting abuse towards children and adults online:
Report Cybercrime online | Europol (europa.eu)
Keeping children safe online (interpol.int)
What we do | Internet Watch Foundation (iwf.org.uk)
