LaLiga presents MOOD, a hate monitoring system on networks

The EA Sports League has taken another step in the fight against hate in sport by presenting a tool for monitoring the conversation on social networks about sport in Spain, together with the companies Sentisis and GroupM, in order to raise awareness among society through data that will be reflected in a public ranking that compares the results of each day.

It is the first monitor of hate speech on social networks that, through artificial intelligence, listens and monitors all conversations around sport to analyze the type of hate, as well as positive behaviors, in a ranking from zero to ten. The tool is capable of detecting through the message whether the user is angry, their intentions and how they feel, as well as differentiating the type of hate – sexist or racial themes, among others.

“In these first days, conversations about racism dropped by 15% and hate conversations, in general, are dropping by 50%. Nothing is enough, but it will help us to have a series of consumable indices around the world. It is in real time and we can respond in time,” explained Oscar Mayo, executive general director of La Liga. However, these results will not entail sanctions for the clubs, since, as Mayo detailed, La Liga is not “here for that, it is a social listening ranking.”

Ícaro Moyano, head of strategy at GroupM, pointed out that what they propose with this initiative “is a project that can be uncomfortable”, since “it is putting a mirror on what we are.”

“We have built an artificial intelligence listening system that tells us how we are and how we behave. With MOOD we can know how to improve,” she added. “That is the mobilizing capacity that sport has to hold up a mirror and make us responsible for behavior. When you have posted a lot on social media, and you see the result of MOOD, say: ‘I participated in this.’ “It is a mirror that helps us be better,” she commented. For his part, the CEO of Séntisis, Borja González de Mendoza, stressed that “the objective is to try to change some premises that we have socially constructed. Like social networks are to blame for many things.”

“That depends on us on the use we give it. This will make us more aware when we upload something to social networks,” she highlighted. With MOOD, conversations of all types of users will be analyzed. The tool locates a truthful user and detects the emotions behind the person who writes it. The tool serves both for the preview of sporting events and as a mirror after them.

“The main objective is to act with data, and we are convinced that data are tools of persuasion and change. We are much more sexist and racist than we think, and we are not aware that we reflect these behaviors in our social environments where we feel unpunished and express ideas that probably do not identify us,” concluded Borja González de Mendoza.

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