BBC Sport and Sky Sports come together to send zero tolerance message about online hatred
Last August, BBC Sport launched the “Hate Won’t Win” campaign with the aim of making our social media areas safer for everyone.
Since then, we’ve blocked and reported hundreds of accounts, and hidden or removed thousands of comments that violated our policies.
We have now teamed up with Sky Sports to expand this zero tolerance stance on online hatred and abuse to a total of 86 million followers.
They support the campaign in a video produced by both broadcasters and presenters and experts such as Gary Lineker, Alex Scott, Micah Richards, Gary Neville, Ebony Rainford-Brent and Gabby Logan.
BBC Sport Director Barbara Slater said: “We’re delighted that Sky has joined us in the sequel to Hate Won’t Win to show that online abuse is simply unacceptable.
“By partnering with Sky, we hope to get the message across that our social media accounts have a zero tolerance policy for hateful news.” Rob Webster, CEO of Sky Sports, said, “The collective influence of our two organizations coming together is strong moment to drive behavior change online and show that hate is not going to win.
“Sky Sports and BBC Sport are reaching a large audience together and our message is loud and clear – enough is enough.”
The following statement describes the attitude of BBC Sport and will be published on all of our social media channels:
At BBC Sport, we want our platforms to be a respectful place for discussion, constructive criticism, debate and opinion.
We know the vast majority of our supporters want that too.
Here is our stance:
- We will block people who bring hatred into our comment areas.
- We will report the most serious cases to the relevant authorities.
- We will endeavor to keep our accounts friendly and respectful.
- We will continue to expand our coverage of all sports and continue to cover topics and discussions related to equality in sport.
We would like your help too.
If you see a response to BBC Sports posts with an expression of hatred based on race, color, gender, nationality, ethnicity, disability, religion, sexuality, gender, age, or class, email the URL of the post in question. Mail [email protected]
Together we will strive to make our social media accounts a safe place for everyone.
When we’re on the same team, hatred won’t win.
