Ajax deploying artificial intelligence to filter and hide hateful posts on social media

Ajax have announced plans to combat hateful messages on social media. The Amsterdam football club presented a “Social Code of Conduct" on Friday, in which artificial intelligence will be used to enforce behavioral rules on all their social media channels.

The club already took action against hatred on social media in December 2023 by playing a match in shirts that did not have the players’ names on the back. Ajax reported at the time that players received more than 1,500 hateful messages on social media a month, and called on people to report these types of messages.

Ajax will work with their main sponsor, Ziggo, to develop a special of the Online Masters programme. “From discrimination and racism to bullying and intimidation, Ajax has observed that online norms are increasingly deteriorating,” the club said in a statement. “The danger is that this could amplify the impact of social hate on future generations. Children see these messages and may come to believe that this behavior is normal, raising the level of acceptance for such harmful conduct among young people.”

The club is going to install an AI tool that detects hateful messages and hides them. To bring attention to the initiative, the league leaders in the Dutch top flight, the Eredivisie, will play in special shirts that replace the Ziggo sponsor logo with the message “silence social hate” against NAC Breda on Sunday.

“It’s really important, I think, what the club is trying to do to get rid of all the negative comments,” the team’s captain, Jordan Henderson, said in a video connected to the presentation. “Especially towards children on social media. For me, having three children myself can be quite disturbing when you see stuff that I’ve seen and the club have shown us on social media, especially towards children.”

Regina van Eijk, a keeper at Ajax’s women’s team, also agrees with the initiative. “It is good to show the youth what is and isn’t okay. A lot of it is about women’s football or someone’s looks. Does it affect me? I can shake it off now, but that was more difficult in the past.”