Online toxicity exacerbates bullying in football that may turn fatal
FOOTBALL in Malaysia is in danger of falling into the hands of a group of bullies from diverse backgrounds.
If the authorities rest on their laurels and do not learn from the heinous acid attack on Malaysian winger Faisal Halim last weekend, the sport Pele described as the beautiful game will be taken away from the average Joe, the Ahmad, Ah Chong and Muthus.
My fear is that the universal appeal of football will be overwhelmed and taken over by the social media bullies who may or may not turn out to be thugs in the real world.
The attack on Faisal, one of the domestic game’s greatest assets on and off the pitch, is symptomatic of today’s world awash with narcissistic tendencies.
While conspiracy theorists are having a field day speculating on the motives and the background of the assailants, no sane Malaysian can take this nefarious act sitting down.
We need to take punitive action against those who feel they are the arbiter of right and wrong.
We cannot tolerate any sign of bullying – online or in the real world.
Unless we address the problem at its core, no amount of symptom alleviation will solve the issue.
Footballers, like any other employee, are entitled to the same human rights as anyone else. That includes the right not to be harassed and abused.
The attack on Faisal came not too long after he had launched his own brand of merchandise FH7.
The Penang-born 26-year-old whose goal against South Korea was voted as the best goal of the AFC Asian Cup 2023, is now in intensive care, nursing fourth-degree burns but showing signs of recovery.
To soothe his pain, Faisal was given words of encouragement from Manchester United duo – Andre Onana and Alejandro Garnacho. Faisal was one of the youngsters brought to Old Trafford under the reality show Mencari Ramli in 2014.
Moving forward, the FA of Malaysia (FAM) and the MFL, the league operators, may wish to take a cue from the measures taken by FIFA and the England FA to quell the threat of bullying.
A report of all monitoring and moderation activities carried out by FIFA’S Social Media Protection Service (SMPS) across the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 presented trends and behaviours across online abuse and threat.
The data and insights of the report were gathered for almost the entire month of the tournament through to 24 hours after the final between France and Argentina, incorporating all 64 fixtures.
SMPS activities covered across all major platforms including Twitter,
Instagram, Facebook, Tiktok and Youtube.
Through SMPS, FIFA monitored public accounts and mentions for abusive, discriminatory or threatening content. By using artificial intelligence, content of that nature was hidden or removed automatically.
It was aimed to protect players, teams, officials and fans from abuse, keeping their social feeds free from hate and allowing them to focus on enjoying their part in FIFA events.
Protective coverage was set up to incorporate 864 players and coaches with a total of 1,688 active accounts, 129 officials (31 active accounts) and 32 team accounts (126 active accounts), 45 ex-players-media (76 active accounts).
Identified posts are based on text, with layered word, emoji and phrase categorisation and an Ai-empowered threat detection algorithm.
Likewise, the England FA have taken measures to act against bullying. Under the respect campaign, the FA have come up with a guideline on Antibullying Policy for Clubs, including cyberbullying.
Against this backdrop, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) Centre for Policy Research criminologist Datuk Dr P. Sundramoorthy, has urged the football authorities to speak out firmly against violence and collaborate with the authorities to foster a safe environment for players and coaches.
He added that measures may be needed to improve security and protection for players, as well as crackdown on social media harassment.
With professional footballers being specifically targeted or profiled, Sundramoorthy said there appeared to be a troubling pattern of violence against them.
He said: “Overall, it’s a complex issue that requires a multi-pronged approach to understand the dynamics at play and implement effective measures to protect players from harm, whether the attacks are targeted or random.
“Transparency and accountability will be important.”
Doable in Malaysia?