00:00The WNBA has had enough of online hate, and they're diving into artificial intelligence and even counterterrorism technologies to stop it.
00:09At the tip of the spear, so to speak, the Chicago Sky and a company called Moonshot, who are using those advanced tools to keep players safe.
00:20This is the girl they say is going to make the WNBA relevant.
00:24She's actually awful.
00:25One year ago, the Sky announced a mental health campaign called Block the Negativity, Post Up Positivity, in hopes of influencing change online and to better help players deal with negative comments and threats.
00:39This summer, they took it one step further, partnering with tech company Moonshot, whose background is in counterterrorism and national security.
00:47Our objective as we deploy this national security technology in the sports world is to help athletes just be able to feel safe, to provide that reassurance that they don't need to worry about this.
00:58They can focus on the game.
01:00Moonshot CEO Vidya Ramalingam said she had an instant connection with Nadia Rawlinson when the Sky co-owner reached out to get help in solving a growing problem.
01:09The league set an all-time attendance record last week, and the rise in women's sports and popularity of the WNBA in particular has led to an increase in online hate and vitriol toward players and teams.
01:22In April, Commissioner Kathy Engelbert announced a task force to combat the issue.
01:26I think there is just a continuing drain on all of us, on players, on staff, staff at our teams, I'm sure on all of you, too, just continuing unaccountability for people who type things in social media.
01:42And our players are digital natives. They're in their 20s, young 20s.
01:45Moonshot uses artificial intelligence models to monitor information in the public domain, including more than two dozen internet and social media sites for negative comments and threats.
01:55That information is then categorized and goes to a team of human threat assessors, from clinical psychologists to social workers to former law enforcement, who act on it if needed.
02:08We're providing evidence packs to the team, to the athletes, to ensure that if they want to take any further action, whether it's legal action, whether it's actually banning individuals from attending games, you know, from the team perspective, we want to make sure they have all the data that they need to be able to facilitate those next steps.
02:25Ronald Lingam said social media companies have pulled back on their commitments to trust and safety over the last few years. Relying on those companies at this stage will not work.
02:35Do they need companies like yours now to kind of police what's happening here?
02:40So we recorded last year in our work to protect athletes, we recorded a 28% takedown rate for all posts that actually violated the terms of service of the platforms themselves.
02:51By the same time this year, by this summer, that removal rate had declined to just about 6%.
02:58So it's really shocking how poorly the social media platforms are actually abiding by their own policies.
03:06Outside of sports, Moonshot has done work monitoring threats for the U.S. government, and the company has found 92% of women who are in the public eye have faced some form of online abuse.
03:1731% of that is sexual in nature. The numbers are similar in women's sports, and among younger adults, 64% have experienced online harassment.
03:27Ramalingam believes the first-of-its-kind partnership with the Sky will soon become the norm.
03:32I suspect that this will, you know, over time become the new standard, the minimum requirement for protecting athletes.
03:39And so I would not be surprised if you see news over the next several months of other teams that are taking this on.
03:46Ramalingam said by the end of the season, she believes the Moonshot team will have compelling evidence that demonstrates just how ineffective social media platforms are at actually abiding by their policies.
03:58The company fully intends to hold them to account.
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