United Against Online Abuse
Coalition to stop hate speech in sport
The United Against Online Abuse campaign is a collaborative mission between national governments, regulatory institutions and fellow sporting bodies, with the objective of building a global coalition to tackle online abuse within the sport ecosystem.
Our key pillars
Stronger together
Success will come if the global sport ecosystem stands together to combat this problem. Our partnership is a powerful, consistent presence across all platforms.
Evidence Based
Conduct and publish research, via the FIA University, on the unexplored topic of online abuse in sport, and provide a platform for knowledge sharing, education, and prevention.
Committed to Action
Create an international coalition where all relevant stakeholders can discuss, agree, and advance concrete solutions to combat digital hate and abuse in sport. Focusing on legal prosecutions and supporting victims with relevant after-care.
Our partners
Timeline
8th Nov 2022
FIA President’s Op-Ed on Online Hate Speech
Online abuse has become a blight on our sport. The level of sustained toxicity has reached crisis point. It is time for all of us to unite – and to act.
Recently one of the FIA female stewards, Silvia Bellot, was the subject of death threats. It is utterly deplorable that a volunteer such as Silvia or any of our marshals and officials, who volunteer their time to allow us to go racing, is the subject of such hatred.
Indeed a number of FIA staff have also been targeted with harassment and hate posts over the past few years.
Read on FIA.com9th Nov 2022
FIA announces collaboration with Arwen.AI
As part of a concerted effort to address the issue of online abuse throughout the motor sport community, the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) is partnering with Artificial Intelligence experts Arwen.ai.
Through the collaboration, Arwen.ai is implementing its AI-enabled content moderation platform to help the FIA detect and reduce growing levels of online hate speech on its social channels. A successful trial has already been completed.
Read on FIA.com2nd Mar 2023
FIA releases WhitePaper
A significant milestone in the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile’s mission to drive out online abuse was reached today with the launch of a White Paper on the issue that has become a blight on global sport.
The document, entitled, “A Strategic Response To Online Hate Speech In Sport” has been informed by industry experts, government institutions and the FIA’s academic partners; with the mission of outlining the sustained and collaborative approach the FIA will adopt in confronting online toxicity.
The White Paper has been presented to the FIA’s 243 Member Clubs and shared at the World Motor Sport Council Strategy Meeting in Bahrain.
Read on FIA.com19th Jun 2023
FIA announces global research scholarships
FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem announces the launch of six fully-funded scholarships as the United Against Online Abuse campaign continues to gather momentum.
The scholarships will invite researchers worldwide to collaborate remotely against the global scourge of online hate speech in sport whilst earning a Master’s by Research degree title. The programs fall under the auspices of the FIA University and are backed by the FIA Foundation.
The announcement comes on the United Nations Day for Countering Hate speech and has been formally presented to delegates at the FIA Conference in Cordoba June 2023.
Read on FIA.com30th Jul 2023
FIA JOINS FORCES WITH FIM IN COALITION AGAINST ONLINE ABUSE
The Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) today announces the signing of a Charter for collaboration with the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM) as part of the global coalition to counter online abuse in sport.
The signing between FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem and his counterpart at FIM, Jorge Viegas, took place at the Francorchamps circuit ahead of the Belgian Formula 1 Grand Prix.
Under this pledge, the FIA and FIM will contribute to the fight against online hate speech in sport which is a pressing challenge for society by adopting several targets.
Read on FIA.com11th Sep 2023
FIA President meets with French Minister for Sports to collaborate in the fight against online abuse
Both parties discussed the importance of confronting the issue of online abuse and the need for action to increase prevention from cyber-harassment in sport.
During the meeting, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra gave her support to the FIA’s “United Against Online Abuse” charter. She added that the FIA’s initiative is compatible with the actions of the French government to fight against the online harassment of athletes and officials.
Read on fia.comFrequently asked questions
What is online hate speech?
Whilst ‘hate speech’ has no single agreed definition it is most commonly understood as “hostile, and malicious language targeted at a person or group because of their actual or perceived innate characteristics” (Siegel, 2020). These attributes and protected characteristics, may include race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, gender, sexual orientation and disability.
The scope of Hate Speech also encompasses ‘offensive speech, digital hostility and online abuse’ therefore for researchers, prosecutors and victims it is a type of negative online behaviour that is often conflated with other types. Given this knowledge and the rapidly evolving nature of dialect, emojis and the online sphere, it makes it challenging to distinguish case-studies due to subjectivity and context-dependence.
Online hate can be spread through many types of media, including videos, images and text and often takes “the form of derogatory, demonising and dehumanising statements, threats, pejorative terms and slurs” (Stop Hate UK, 2023). Despite its classification difficulties, online hate speech and case-specific elements of online abuse are a possible legal offence.
How will this coalition make meaningful change?
Our primary focus is by initiating a research-led approach, the FIA in partnership with the FIA Foundation have committed to funding 6 Master’s by Research Scholars to focus on online abuse within sport. You can find out more about our scholarships initiative here: United Against Online Abuse – FIA University
Our vision is to have a diverse international student body in order to ensure we understand hate-speech beyond the scope of English and specifically outside of a Western-lens. Cognitive diversity and creating an expansive coalition are one of several keys to success.