Signify have been working hard for the last 2 years to develop an innovative and much needed technological response to online abuse. After running a number of exercises looking into online threat (most notably around Antisemitism in the UK and death threats targeting UK MP’s over Brexit) our team set about developing an AI-based solution to this growing problem.

Threat Matrix was the result - a bespoke service capable of identifying discriminatory abusive and targeted messages from publicly available data, at scale, across social media platforms.

For an understanding of why we have developed this service, look no further than the comments made by Kick It Out’s Head of Development - Troy Townsend (also the father of Premier League player - Andros Townsend). Our CEO, Jonathan Hirshler shared a platform with Troy on CNN’s World Sport programme where Troy talked about the experiences he and his son have had to deal with:

In late 2019 we began talks with a number of Premier League clubs to identify their needs and current capabilities around this issue - building a true requirements brief specific to sports (and professional footballers in particular).

In 2020 we partnered with the Professional Footballer’s Association to monitor the abuse received by players over the course of Project Restart. The resulting report received huge media attention, illustrating the scale, tactics and networks behind the problem.

Over the last year, Signify have built partnerships with Kick It Out, the PFA and other football authorities, as well as policing and counter-terrorist experts to integrate actionable evidential processes into the service.

We want to help football (and more widely, Sport) create a real, long-term deterrent that will help tackle the scourge of online abuse.

Our mission is to shift Sport’s strategy from a reactive, victim-led approach (requiring the victim to have to digest and report abuse) to a proactive response. Just as Technology has created the problem, we have harnessed technology to create an effective, scalable solution. Threat Matrix is able to identify abuse at scale, illuminating the most concerning and prolific accounts. We use Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) techniques to de-anonymise and evidence the perpetrators behind the accounts.

Beyond cleaning up social feeds, our team are focussed on delivering real-world outcomes, including:

• the banning of abusive social media accounts at scale.

• providing insights to clubs, allowing them to take direct action where we have identified their fans or season-ticket holders as being the source of abuse (using their sanctions processes or educational initiatives).

• criminal prosecutions, where Hate Crimes have been committed or real threat exists.

Signify can offer guidance and support to clients in achieving each of these goals. We have detailed processes for gathering and packing evidence that will support these actions, as recently profiled on Sky Sports News:

If you work with a player/athlete, club, league association or organisation that requires our support, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. We want to help.

To find out more about Threat Matrix.