Players participating in this year’s French Open will have access to a tool that will filter out hateful messages on their social media platforms to prevent cyberbullying and harassment.
The French Tennis Federation (FFT) has collaborated with “Bodyguard,” which uses artificial intelligence (AI) to moderate real-time comments on posts and analyse the responses in less than 200 milliseconds. A team of linguists creates word patterns that help the system learn and update in real-time, ensuring a contextual analysis.
Protection will be provided to all official FFT and Roland-Garros social media accounts, as well as those accounts of players who opt for it during this Grand Slam event and at least one week after the tournament ends. Social media platforms that will be monitored include Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, and Discord.
The FFT believes that players must be able to withstand the mental strain of the sport and avoid the harmful effects of online bullying, as part of its mental health care strategy for players.
Caroline Flaissier, the director of the FFT, explained that they will not tolerate violence at the tournament and the technology aims to protect players from such damaging behaviour, allowing them to be in excellent mental condition when they compete.
This makes the French Open the first Grand Slam event to offer its players a solution that will efficiently guard them against cyberbullying.