Sportradar Launches New Social Media Integrity Education Service

PENNY DEL amongst the first organisations to provide their athletes and stakeholders with the vital skills required to protect themselves, their online accounts, and the integrity of their sport

 As use of social media amongst athletes and sporting figures continues to grow, Sportradar, a global supplier of sports integrity and education solutions, today launches its Social Media Integrity Education Service. The new program consists of a range of education tools for athletes and key sports stakeholders specifically relating to the topic of social media integrity.

Amongst the first sports organisations to sign up for the new service is the PENNY DEL, Germany’s leading ice hockey league. Through a series of bespoke webinars and workshops, the league’s clubs and their players will be provided with tutorials on the integrity risks that can arise when using social media, as well as guidance on how to protect themselves and the reputation of their clubs.  

Andrew Whittingham, Head of Education Integrity Services, Sportradar said: “The integrity and reputational risks which can arise when using social media are far-reaching. Not only can failing to act with integrity online put individual users at risk of harm, it can also pose threats to the integrity of teams or clubs, leagues or competitions, or sport as a whole.”

“We’re excited to be working closely with PENNY DEL and we commend the robust approach they’re taking to social media integrity education. By combining sessions to educate players, referees and officials simultaneously they are ensuring all participants in ice hockey understand the individual and collective responsibilities they have to maintain the highest integrity standards.”

Gernot Tripcke, General Manager at Deutsche Eishockey Liga GmbH & Co. KG, said: “We are delighted about the cooperation with Sportradar. The players of the clubs are all active on social media several times a day and naturally want to make their own accounts as professional as possible. The workshops will definitely be helpful in proceeding with the greatest possible security in the social media area. Equally, it’s about anti-manipulation, which has always been extremely important to us as a league.”

Challenges to the overall integrity of sport can come from a variety of different sources including from inappropriate online content and behaviour, the threat of inside information, match-fixing or betting corruption, and doping. Sportradar assists partners in tackling all of these issues and are the integrity partner of 80+ sports organisations from over 25 different sports including football, basketball, tennis, handball, volleyball, darts and many more.