Rio Ferdinand + Threat Matrix
Former England international and Manchester United captain Rio Ferdinand has released a ground-breaking documentary series examining racism, homophobia and mental health issues in football. The three-part Amazon documentary - Tipping Point - has been two years in the making and features powerful research from Signify’s Threat Matrix team as part of a year-long analysis of online racist targeting of professional footballers.
Signify are proud to have supported Rio in this important investigation into the nature of racist abuse targeting Premier League and International footballers as part of his documentary series.
Our work helped Rio to demonstrate not only the scale of the problem, but also highlight the real solutions that are available. Rio and his production team invited Signify to analyse abuse targeting 10 active professional players (and Rio). From 3.7m messages targeting these players between Jan and Dec 2021, Threat Matrix was able to identify 507 accounts sending discriminatory, threatening or violent abuse – providing evidence of specific cases from within the UK and internationally.
Threat Matrix has become the world’s leading detection and analysis service providing evidence for platforms, clubs and international sports bodies to take real world action against those sending abuse online. Utilising AI to capture discriminatory messages at scale, Threat Matrix empowers organisations to build real deterrents, lowering instances of threatening, violent abuse and providing a proactive protective monitor for their players.
Threat Matrix’s analysis provides insight into the scale of the problem together with the impact online abuse can have on male and female players across the game. In a recent interview with the Guardian, Rio stated: “If you’re a black player who is a great penalty taker… it will be on your mind.”
And it is not just in football that professional players and athletes are facing unacceptable levels of abusive targeting online. Signify’s recent comparative study between European football and the NBA & WNBA revealed US basketball stars are routinely targeted with racist and, increasingly, homophobic abuse. Player unions working with Signify have recognised and highlighted the duty of care that employers have towards their athletes, whose mental health is being put under increasing strain by the content their exposed to in their mentions.
Signify would like to commend Rio and the Production team behind Tipping Point for their commitment in tackling online abuse in football and highlighting the solutions available. Rio’s has offered a powerful voice in the campaign to drive forward action against the perpetrators of online abuse.
We are proud to have played a part in this initiative shining a light on this important topic and will continue to partner with players, teams and organisations that share a similar mission.
Watch Tipping Point on Amazon Prime Video from 11th November 2022