NCAA calls on fans, social media platforms to curb abuse as it releases first online harassment study

Over the past several months, the NCAA has partnered with Signify Group — using its Threat Matrix service powered by artificial intelligence — to investigate online harassment in college sports. The NCAA recently released the complete summary analysis from the Division I championships pilot study, which monitored public comments targeting the online profiles of student-athletes, coaches and officials participating in seven NCAA championships and the College Football Playoff National Championship.

Based on the jarring findings from this pilot study, leaders in college sports called on fans and social media companies to curb rampant online abuse.

Signify Group's analysts reviewed more than 72,000 messages that were flagged by their AI-based algorithm from a wider dataset of 1.3 million posts/comments targeted at the social media profiles of student-athletes, coaches and officials taking part in the events. From the messages analyzed, the team verified over 5,000 posts containing abusive, discriminatory or threatening content. These messages have been reported to social media platforms for action. The study revealed:

• 18 percent of all abuse was sexual, making it the most prevalent type of abuse used to target male and female student-athletes.

• 12 percent of all abuse was related to sports betting, with more than 740 instances. As betting markets increased, so did the prevalence of harassment, with 19 percent rates in men's basketball and football. Some abuse flagged in other categories indicated that the posts were betting-related.

• 10 percent of abuse consisted of racist content.

• 9 percent of abuse was homophobic/transphobic.

• 6 percent of abuse, approximately 380 instances, was violent.

• 80 percent of the abuse in the study was directed at March Madness student-athletes.

• Women's basketball student-athletes received approximately three times more threats than men's basketball student-athletes.

"I've heard too many student-athletes talk about abusive messages they have received, and for the first time ever, we now have evidence of the scale at which this is occurring. It's incredibly alarming and completely unacceptable," NCAA President Charlie Baker said. "Fans have to do better, social media companies have to do more to identify and remove this content, and we all need reminders about responsible social media usage. Student-athletes come to college hoping to fulfill their athletic and academic dreams, and our job at the NCAA is to provide them with the most fulfilling experience possible. We will exhaust all options to reduce the harassment and vitriol student-athletes are experiencing too often today."

In December, the NCAA announced that it engaged Signify Group to provide its Threat Matrix service to support the Association in studying and responding to online abuse and threats directed at NCAA championship participants, including student-athletes, coaches, officials and committee members. This unique initiative was implemented to further promote the mental health and well-being of the college sports community through data collection, analytics and action.

In May, a preliminary set of data trends was released, detailing some of the abuse observed during March Madness across the Division I Men's and Women's Basketball Championships. Notably, more than 540 abusive betting-related messages were directed at men's and women's basketball student-athletes and game officials, including death threats.

"College athletics ignites passion and creates enthusiastic fan bases that cheer on our student-athletes," Duke Vice President and Director of Athletics Nina King said. "We welcome the positive support and dedication but will not tolerate any form of abuse that threatens student-athlete mental health and well-being. There is absolutely no place for harassment or discrimination of any kind in college sports. We are committed to protecting student-athletes who should be celebrated for their academic and athletic achievements in a safe environment, free from online abuse and harm."

Besides the Division I Men's and Women's Basketball Championships, Signify Group monitored additional championships in the division: women's volleyball, Football Championship Subdivision football, softball and baseball. The study also included the National Collegiate Women's Gymnastics Championships and the College Football Playoff National Championship. In total, the study monitored the accounts of 3,164 student-athletes, 489 coaches, 197 game officials, 165 teams and 12 NCAA official channels, resulting in findings of 16 categories of online abuse and threats across all championships.

"This initiative has been a fascinating learning exercise," said Jonathan Hirshler, CEO of Signify Group. "Our Threat Matrix service is used across global sports, covering some of the highest profile athletes on the planet. Our analysts were therefore astounded to see student-athletes receiving volumes of targeted abuse that compare to professional sportsmen and women playing at the very highest levels of world sport. This data underpins the NCAA's admirable work in this area as these student-athletes (together with coaches and officials) clearly require support."

Men's and Women's March Madness participants (student-athletes, coaches and officials) received the most abuse — nearly 4,000 verified abusive messages, with 80 percent of all verified malicious content occurring during the tournaments.

"Online abuse and cyberbullying have no place in our society or college athletics," Purdue men's basketball head coach Matt Painter said. "Thousands of student-athletes across the country face harassment every day on social media, and the bullying can affect their mental health well-being, causing stress, depression and suicidal thoughts. The increased exposure to online gambling only exacerbates the online abuse, with many student-athletes receiving death threats via social media. We are asking all social media companies and platforms to do more to identify and remove these online threats and make their platforms safer for everyone."

In baseball and softball, the ratios of abuse were fairly consistent between the Men's and Women's College World Series. The biggest difference was those associated with the women's championship received 100-percent more messages alleging cheating and corruption when compared with the men's.

When the National Collegiate Women's Gymnastics Championships was examined, 92 percent of flagged sexual messages were sent from bot accounts that encouraged online users to access sexual content. Signify Group reported this activity to the social platform, which then suspended the bot accounts. The inappropriate comments were removed from the team and student-athlete gymnasts' channels.

Bots were not the only accounts issuing sexual content and abuse. There were high instances of sexual abuse and threats (18 percent) targeted at both male and female athletes across multiple championships — the most prominent category of abuse in the study.

Homophobia and transphobia were consistent issues across championships, ranging from 4.33 percent in baseball to 22 percent in women's volleyball.

"Online abuse of student-athletes is a significant issue that negatively impacts the experience of young athletes across sport, including intercollegiate athletics," Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee Vice Chair Meredith Page said. "The DI SAAC calls on those in a position of influence to take active steps in providing better protections for our young adults."

Racism was another prominent category of abuse (10 percent). Every championship in the study, with the exception of FCS football, observed online racist abuse and threats. The most instances of racial abuse occurred during March Madness in both the men's and women's tournaments.

Violent and threatening content (6 percent) was observed across the various championships, prompting risk assessments by experts and analysts. When content was categorized as Tier 3, the most violent category, an expedited alert containing evidence was sent to the NCAA, which shared this with law enforcement for further investigation.

While 12 percent of the abuse detected was directly tied to sports betting based on the exact language within the posts, deeper analysis suggests that much of the abuse in other categories (e.g., sexism, racism, etc.) was influenced by sports-betting behaviors, creating overlapping abuse targeting student-athletes and officials.

The abuse that Signify Group identified and investigated across social media and online platforms demonstrates how susceptible student-athletes, coaches, officials and their families are to being exposed to serious risks.

The study found that receiving these types of sexist, racist, homophobic and betting-related harassment can have a direct and immediate impact on mental health and well-being. Signify Group noted that repeated abuse can have an especially detrimental effect: One student-athlete received more than 1,400 abusive messages in less than two weeks.

"I've seen firsthand the negative impacts of social media abuse on the mental health of myself and my loved ones," said Connor McCaffery, men's basketball assistant coach at Butler. "There must be more done to address this toxic behavior impacting sports at all levels."

As part of its commitment to protecting the safety and well-being of student-athletes and all championship participants, the NCAA recently implemented a series of reforms that deliver increased benefits — including expanded mental health support — to student-athletes. As of Aug. 1, all schools with Division I sports programs must provide mental health counseling and mental health services consistent with the NCAA's Mental Health Best Practices. Additionally, the NCAA has expanded its e-learning content to educate student-athletes on how to handle abusive threats, as well as addressing the risks of sports betting and problem gambling more broadly.

Beyond ensuring student-athletes have access to essential learning resources and mental health support, the NCAA is advocating for social media platforms to address the root of the problem by more proactively identifying and removing abusive content directed at student-athletes.

"This groundbreaking study will assist the Association to analyze and assess risks to devise effective solutions and guardrails to protect student-athletes from abusive threats and harms," said Clint Hangebrauck, NCAA managing director of enterprise risk management. "The NCAA will continue to work with Signify, campus leaders, social platforms, law enforcement, betting operators and government officials to combat this horrific behavior and drive change for college sports and society."

If you are a student-athlete or administrator interested in learning more about how to minimize social media abuse, please contact Hangebrauck at changebrauck@ncaa.org.

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