Ahead of the 2024 Women’s T20 World Cup, to start at the UAE on October 3, the ICC launched an AI tool to create “safe space for the cricket community”.
The 2024 Women’s T20 World Cup will commence on October 3, and will be played across Dubai and Sharjah until October 20. Ahead of the World Cup, the ICC announced a “social media moderation programme” to promote a “more positive and inclusive” online experience for the teams and the players at the tournament.
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More than 60 players have already opted for the programme. More are opting in as the onboarding continues.
For the tournament, the ICC has rolled out new software that will protect the cricket community from “toxic content”. The objective is to safeguard the mental health of individuals and ensure a “safer, kinder and healthier” online community cricket.
For the social media moderation, they engaged GoBubble, a UK-based software organisation, to provide a combination of AI technology and human resources to monitor and moderate comments on the ICC’s official channels (Facebook, Instagram, YouTube) as well as the handles of the participating cricketers.
The “cutting-edge technology” will identify and hide from public view toxic content like hate speech, harassment, and misogyny, thus helping to create a safer and more welcoming space for fans to engage with the World Cup.
The cricketers participating in the World Cup can opt for this service to have harmful comments hidden from their social media channels, which will allow them to promote themselves and the sport in a much safer environment.
"We are dedicated to fostering a positive and inclusive environment for all participants and fans of the ICC Women's T20 World Cup,” said Finn Bradshaw, head of digital at the ICC. “It’s been great to see so many of the players and teams embrace our new initiative.”
“For me, with social media protection, I think it takes a lot of weight off players, especially at World Cup campaigns as that is the worst of it,” said South African cricketer Sinalo Jafta. “There is nothing worse than opening up your phone after a loss – or after a victory – and regardless of what side you find yourself there is always some degrading comment about your personality.
“With the youngsters coming in you tell them 'please don't look', but what are they going to do? It is literally their thing. That protection for me is very big because players get to share their life with the world without the fear of being judged or criticised. I am looking forward to seeing the changes, people just being free and players can just show the world who they really are.”
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