TOKYO — Japan is fighting back against online abuse of athletes and sports authorities have a warning for trolls planning to target competitors at this year’s Asian Games: You are being watched.
Online abuse is felt by athletes all over the world, affecting their performances and mental health, leaving them fearing for their safety and even causing them to quit their sports.
Japan is no exception and efforts are belatedly being made to tackle the problem, from dedicated lawyers to teams monitoring social media for offensive posts.
“Even a single negative comment can cut deeply,” Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) official Misa Chida told AFP.
“Athletes don’t want to see things like that, so a lot of them choose not to look at social media at all, and that means they miss the 99 percent of messages that are supportive.
“That’s a real shame.”
Chida was part of a dedicated team of JOC officials monitoring social media at the Milan-Cortina Olympics in February.
Six staff members in Milan and 22 in Tokyo checked around the clock for posts abusing Japanese athletes, using both manual and AI searches.
They worked in conjunction with Meta — owner of Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp — and Japanese company LINE Yahoo.
The team asked social media companies to take down almost 2,000 posts, and succeeded in having nearly 600 removed.
Social media companies have often been accused of not doing enough to crack down on abuse on their platforms.
The JOC said they plan to repeat their monitoring activities at their home Asian Games, which are being held in Nagoya and the wider Aichi area on Sept. 19-Oct. 4.
On top of that, Asian Games organizers told AFP that they will run a wider monitoring program aimed at protecting athletes from all competing countries.
“We now understand what kinds of comments appear on a daily basis and how they upset athletes,” said JOC official Hirofumi Takeshita.
“We’ve learned how much energy we need to devote to this.”
The JOC is not the first sporting organization to carry out a social media monitoring program.
The International Olympic Committee ran one in more than 35 languages at the 2024 Paris Games and there have also been initiatives in football and tennis.
“As awareness of these initiatives grows among athletes, staff and everyone working on the ground, that in itself contributes to a greater sense of psychological safety,” said Chida.
Japan has been relatively late to the party, according to lawyer Shun Takahashi, who leads a seven-strong legal group dedicated to protecting athletes from online abuse.
Takahashi says his group, founded in 2024, is a “safe haven” for athletes, many of whom feel uncomfortable talking about the issue.
“They worry that showing vulnerability might lead a coach to bench them or that others will see them as weak,” he said.
“Many athletes are raised with the idea that they must always be strong and they don’t want to be perceived otherwise.”
Takahashi’s group offered support in the case of Taiki Sekine, a professional baseball player who last year took legal action against online abusers.
