Following World Cup match official abuse monitoring, World Rugby filed a lawsuit.
During the competition, World Rugby collaborated with an online monitoring company that reported over 1,600 abusive social media profiles.Ninety percent of the most offensive stuff was therefore deleted.
During the seven-week event hosted in France last autumn, Signify Group kept an eye on over 900 social media accounts, including those of all match officials with public-facing social media profiles, including their families, and World Rugby’s official channels. 49% of abuse is directed at match officials; England is the most abused team.
After South Africa defeated New Zealand 12–11 in November, World Cup final referee Wayne Barnes announced his retirement to the BBC, stating that he and his family had been subjected to “vile” and “crossed a line” social media abuse.Following the game, Barnes allegedly got death threats, according to his wife Polly.
After serving as the television match official (TMO) for the final, referee Tom Foley declared in December that he would be taking a hiatus from officiating international rugby due to the “torrent of criticism and abuse” he had received.
During the event, match officials—including TMOs—received 49% of all abuse, with three match officials ranking among the top 10 most targeted individuals. Barnes, on the other hand, was the most targeted individual, accounting for one-third of all abuse.
Law enforcement intervened when abusive messages were sent via private direct messages to match officials and their families.According to World Rugby, there is “evidence of a clear correlation” between coaches’ and players’ comments, both online and offline, and the abuse of match officials that occurs both online and on the field.
“Those who abuse or threaten players, match officials or their families must realise there will be consequences for their actions,” Barnes stated.”It is fantastic that World Rugby is setting the example and that the first charges are being brought against people who transmit such heinous comments.”There is simply no place for that behaviour in rugby, in sport or in society.”
Alan Gilpin, chief executive of World Rugby, said: “The rise of online hate in society and sport is worrying and totally unacceptable and we will continue to do everything possible to protect and support our international match officials and their families by bringing abusers to justice.”
The majority of verified abusive accounts (58%) came from Europe, followed by accounts from Africa (19%), Oceania (10%), and South America 3%.On their official accounts, 19 teams experienced targeted abuse; two European countries ranked among the top three most attacked teams; the most abuse was directed towards the England squad, which was followed by South Africa and France.
In addition, players were subjected to a greater range of forms of abuse than match officials, who only got 24% of all abuse about match-fixing. World Rugby has declared that international match officials working in both men’s and women’s Test matches will be monitored starting in 2024.
Gilpin went on, “We have been able to use law enforcement authorities across several nations to uncover and identify perpetrators and take appropriate action. We are hoping that legal actions will make it very evident that this kind of behavior is not acceptable and that even if someone uses an alias on social media, they will still be found and subject to charges.
“It is important to note that this programme is not about suppressing debate, legitimate criticism or free speech, it is about maintaining respect, compassion and decent human and rugby values.”