You're being watched: Japan battles online abuse of athletes

TOKYO: Japan is fighting back against online abuse of athletes and sports authorities have a warning for trolls planning to target competitors at this year's Asian Games: You are being watched.

Online abuse is felt by athletes all over the world, affecting their performances and mental health, leaving them fearing for their safety and even causing them to quit their sports.

Japan is no exception and efforts are belatedly being made to tackle the problem, from dedicated lawyers to teams monitoring social media for offensive posts.

"Even a single negative comment can cut deeply," Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) official Misa Chida told AFP.

"Athletes don't want to see things like that, so a lot of them choose not to look at social media at all, and that means they miss the 99 per cent of messages that are supportive.

"That's a real shame."

Chida was part of a dedicated team of JOC officials monitoring social media at the Milan-Cortina Olympics in February.

Six staff members in Milan and 22 in Tokyo checked around the clock for posts abusing Japanese athletes, using both manual and AI searches.

They worked in conjunction with Meta - owner of Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp - and Japanese company LINE Yahoo.

The team asked social media companies to take down almost 2,000 posts, and succeeded in having nearly 600 removed.

Social media companies have often been accused of not doing enough to crack down on abuse on their platforms.

The JOC said they plan to repeat their monitoring activities at their home Asian Games, which are being held in Nagoya and the wider Aichi area on Sep 19-Oct 4.

On top of that, Asian Games organisers told AFP that they will run a wider monitoring programme aimed at protecting athletes from all competing