Online abuse targeting footballers to be tackled by ‘world first’ AI software

• Every A-League Men and Women player account to be monitored
• Offensive content to be filtered out before being seen by players

We live in an age of rampant online abuse, a modern-day world in which people can anonymously spread derogatory, harmful and offensive language and its receiver can do little apart from calling it out or calling the police.

In the sporting sphere this is a regular occurrence, so much so that Liverpool in January became the first Premier League club to hire a mental health consultant tasked specifically with protecting young players from the trauma of online trolling.