The NCAA called on fans and social media platforms to fight online harassment following what the association called “jarring findings” in a study released Thursday.
The report found that abusive posts spiked during March Madness in particular, where women’s basketball players received about triple the number of threats compared to men’s players, according to the study. The report also highlighted volleyball and gymnastics championships among the events that saw concerning content.
Of the more than 5,000 posts reviewed by researchers and reported to social media platforms for abuse, discrimination or threatening content, the most prevalent type — 18 percent — was sexual abuse directed at men’s and women’s athletes.
Researchers categorized another 17 percent of abusive posts as “general” and 14 percent as “sexism.” Twelve percent of the posts were related to sports betting. Researchers also found that the prevalence of abusive posts increased as the betting markets did.
Ten percent of posts contained racist language, 9 percent were homophobic or transphobic and another 9 percent contained an abusive message that used a racist trope without directly using racist language, per the report. Another 6 percent were violent, while the remaining 5 percent were…
