Social Media Abuse Drops During ⁢March Madness, But Coaches See Spike

Updated June 10, 2025

A recent NCAA study indicates that social media abuse aimed at student-athletes declined during March Madness. Though, tournament officials ⁤and coaches experienced a surge in‍ online harassment, according to the findings released Tuesday.

The study, conducted by data-science firm ⁣Signify Group, revealed that athletes⁣ were the target of 15% of flagged abusive content ⁤during the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments this year. This marks a decrease from 42% the previous year. abuse related to sports betting⁤ also fell by 23%.

Notably, the men’s tournament saw the fewest underdog victories as the field expanded in 1985, with only 14 outright upsets.

While abuse directed at participants in the women’s tournament decreased substantially (83%), the men’s side experienced a 140% increase in‍ harassment. Much of this was aimed at the selection committee and coaches.

Clint ⁣Hangebrauck, NCAA managing director of enterprise risk management, noted ⁢that criticism of the ⁤NCAA committee regarding team selections and coaching changes fueled much of the abuse. North ⁤Carolina athletic director Bubba Cunningham, who chaired the⁤ men’s selection committee, faced online harassment after the Tar heels’ ‍controversial entry into the tournament. Reports indicated cunningham received numerous angry and threatening messages.

“obviously, we don’t want abuse⁤ to be directed ⁤at⁤ anybody,” Hangebrauck said, “but from a mental‍ health‍ and resources standpoint, some of those mature adult-aged individuals can⁢ hopefully deal with those situations a little bit better.”

Signify Group employed artificial intelligence to analyze over a million comments ⁣on X, instagram, ⁣and TikTok, ⁢targeting players, teams, coaches, officials, and othre⁢ stakeholders. The firm identified 3,161 abusive or threatening posts and reported them to the ⁤respective social⁢ media platforms. they also investigated 103 accounts and referred 10 cases to law enforcement.

Signify Group CEO Jonathan Hirschler stated that identifying and reporting abusers to law enforcement can deter such behavior. He added ⁤that sports betting-related abuse often underlies ‍the most severe online threats.

NCAA ‍president⁤ Charlie Baker has emphasized ‍addressing sports betting-related harassment of student-athletes. The NCAA is advocating for states to prohibit prop bets on individual college‍ players and is pushing ⁤for anti-harassment laws that could ban abusive‍ bettors from state-licensed sportsbooks.The decrease⁢ in ⁣sports betting-related ‍abuse coincided with the ‍NCAA’s “Don’t ⁣be a loser” anti-harassment campaign during the tournaments.

The NCAA is also using technology to protect athletes from⁣ abuse. Signify Group⁤ hid abusive content⁣ directed at Mississippi State forward Chandler Prater⁢ after JuJu Watkins’ injury. Prater reported receiving racial slurs and ‍other abuse on Instagram and afterward deactivated her social media accounts for two weeks.

“I know that [online abuse] impacts the athlete behind the screen and the athlete in ‍the jersey,” Prater said.”At the end of the day, we are humans and people with feelings and emotions, just like everybody else. it just gets really crazy at times.”

what’s next

The NCAA plans to continue its efforts to combat social media abuse and sports betting-related harassment through education, ⁣technology, and advocacy for stronger regulations.