Sports across the world provide entertainment, enjoyment, thrills and opportunities for participation to many. They showcase the peak of innovation and the very best of human achievement and accomplishment. However, our sporting environments are increasingly plagued by online abuse, which only serves to damage our ecosystem by undermining our values, restricting inclusion and representation, whilst harming individuals and communities worldwide.
Online abuse is therefore a growing threat to sports across the world; seeking to tarnish our experiences by targeting competitors, personnel, officials, volunteers, entourages, and fans.
The United Against Online Abuse (UAOA) coalition was launched to work collaboratively with sporting organisations across the globe, as well as with national governments, academics, regulators, social media and technology platforms to produce research-based, evidence-led assessments of the online abuse landscape in sport as well as the solutions to tackle this phenomenon.
Launched by the FIA in 2023 and funded by the FIA Foundation, UAOA is based upon three core pillars:
Under its Evidence Based pillar, UAOA runs a prestigious Global Research Scholarships for individuals to carry out Master’s by Research degrees at Dublin City University with full funding from the FIA Foundation. This workstream is designed to diversify the traditionally western-lens focused research by supporting up-and-coming researchers to improve the industry’s understanding of Online Abuse worldwide. UAOA’s current cohort supports researchers in Italy, Mexico, South Africa and the United Kingdom.
The UAOA Coalition, in partnership with FIA University, publishes regular ‘Barometer’ reports which assess and monitor the current online abuse landscape across sport.
These industry-wide reports, featuring contributions from leading International Sporting Federations and NGOs, are the first of their kind. They not only identify and track the prevalence and types of online abuse in sport but also measure their impacts on participation and inclusion. The insights provide a holistic view of online harms and outline actionable methods to address them.
Finally, to protect the sporting ecosystem in a rapidly changing digital era, the UAOA coalition has created a free, open access educational programme designed to empower communities with the knowledge of online abuse in sport, its impact and potential mitigation vs response strategies.
An evidence-led approach is critical to this campaign. Because prevention and intervention strategies are still evolving, ongoing research is essential to developing practical, successful solutions.
Alignmed with UNESCO’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals , UAOA champions digital citizenship and media literacy. By providing resources for online safety, UAOA aims to build global digital knowledge, awareness and resilience.
Through our Stronger Together pillar, the campaign hosts conferences, forums and events designed to convene sporting bodies, national governments, social media platforms, tech organisations and academics encouraging cross-sector collaboration. By fostering partnerships, UAOA aspires to be a world-leader in the research on online abuse and to develop actionable solutions to combat this epidemic.
Through our Commitment to Action pillar, UAOA reflects the coalition’s ambition to be a proactive, solutions focused entity.
UAOA aims to design, develop and implement practical actions that can protect the integrity of sports across the world as safe and inclusive spaces for competitors, officials, journalists, and fans alike.