On Worldwide Ladies’s Day, March 8, World Athletics president Seb Coe was requested concerning the rising subject of cyberbullying in observe and subject, particularly towards feminine athletes. In response, he urged tech leaders Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg to take stronger motion in defending feminine athletes on-line.
The decision for motion comes after a number of British feminine athletes spoke out concerning the darkish aspect of social media, describing how on-line trolls have subjected them to physique shaming and abuse. Coe harassed the matter’s urgency and mentioned social media platforms should do extra to curb harassment.
When requested what his message could be to Musk, the proprietor of X, and Zuckerberg, the founding father of Meta, Coe was clear: “Kind this out. That is simply unacceptable. We’ve acquired to do an entire heap extra to guard feminine athletes.”
Coe additionally identified the potential of synthetic intelligence (AI) in combatting cyberbullying. “We have now to speak to Musk and Zuckerberg. They’ve the expertise to handle this downside,” he instructed the Every day Mail.
In October 2024, World Athletics revealed findings from a examine carried out in the course of the Paris 2024 Olympic Video games, which analyzed social media abuse directed at athletes. The examine discovered that racism and sexualized harassment made up for 48 per cent of the abusive messages, with sexualized abuse alone accounting for 30 per cent.
“I’ve seen the misery this has triggered,” Coe mentioned. “It’s pond life. I’ve spoken to many feminine athletes about it, and a few of the issues, I’ve heard—you simply wish to cry listening to them. We must always not settle for this as some sort of normal observe.”
Actually fascinating article – very well timed as we have fun Worldwide Ladies’s Day this weekend all about my pal @RealDeniseLewis, what a robust ladies she is, the superb journey sport allowed her to journey alongside and the way athletics provides her a way of belonging.…
— Seb Coe (@sebcoe) March 9, 2025
Following the homicide of Ugandan Olympic marathoner Rebecca Cheptegei final 12 months, Coe has labored alongside the World Athletics Gender Management Taskforce to strengthen protections towards gender-based violence within the sport.
Whereas acknowledging that on-line abuse shouldn’t be a brand new subject, Coe believes the anonymity of social media has fuelled its rise, permitting cyberbullies to cover with out revealing their identification. “There’s an enormous component of cowardice in social media,” he mentioned. “Individuals say issues on-line that they’d by no means have the braveness to say to somebody’s face.”