NCAA pilot study finds widespread social media harassment of athletes, coaches and officials WSOC TV [Video]

COLUMBIA, S.C. — (AP) — An NCAA study on social media abuse of athletes, coaches and other officials during championship events found nearly one in five posts that were flagged by an AI-based algorithm and determined to be abusive involved sexual harassment and 12% were related to sports betting, according to results of the pilot study released Thursday.

The college athletics governing body’s findings of its first online harassment study using Signify Group’s Threat Matrix examined more than 72,000 messages flagged by an algorithm. Over 5,000 of those posts were confirmed to contain abusive, discriminatory or threatening content and were reported to social media companies.

The study conducted during 2023-2024 examined social media posts related to championship-level events in six sports: baseball, basketball, gymnastics, football, softball and volleyball.

Of the abusive posts, the study found 80% were directed at March Madness athletes, with female basketball players receiving about three times more abusive messages than their male counterparts.

The study cited one unidentified …