Research finds much more hope than hate in posts sent to England's women at Euro 2022

ANALYSIS of nearly 80,000 social media posts reveals 380 were 'hate speech' but way more were positive. The vast majority of social media posts directed towards England's winning Euro 2022 football players across the tournament were positive, an analysis by Cardiff University's HateLab has found. The study of 78,141 posts on Twitter, Reddit and 4Chan identified more than 50,000 positive posts; roughly 1 "hate" post for every 125 "hope" posts; while 380 were classed as sexist or homophobic. The remainder were either negative or neutral. The report authors said that while this was low in comparison to previous research around the men's game, social media abuse; and inaction from platforms in removing content; remained a concern.

Professor Matthew Williams, director of HateLab and an expert in hate crime told us that:- "In 2021 we saw horrendous racist abuse directed at individual players after England men's team lost on penalties to Italy in the Euro 2020 final. In the women's Euros, we found far fewer posts directed at individual England players, which is perhaps unexpected, but may be reflective of the different audience for the game and positive sentiment around the team's success. We also know that the portrayal of positive stereotypes in football can suppress the expression of prejudice; our previous reporting around the '[Mo] Salah effect' found a drop in online anti Muslim hate speech, from Liverpool fans, and a reduction in hate crime on the streets in Merseyside. That said, the nature of the 380 posts we identified was concerning, including:- attempts to scorn the success of women's football, players being told in some of the less offensive posts to 'get back to kitchen' or to 'make a sandwich' and suggestions women should not be playing football. There were also grossly offensive posts that made sexual references. It is surprising that most of these posts remain live on the platforms."

The researchers developed new algorithms engineered within HateLab to analyse thousands of English-language posts sent between:- 2 May and 1 August 2022. The algorithms are trained on naturally occurring hate speech that is annotated by human coders to ensure a high level of precision, accuracy and recall. This enabled HateLab technology to detect misogynistic and homophobic posts in real time and at scale during the tournament.

They found England players received 50,422 positive posts during the 13 week period, with:- "hope" content peaking when England played Norway, Spain and Sweden. The largest spike was during the final against Germany.

In total, 380 posts were identified as sexist hate speech, following a similar trend over time to the positive content, and peaking with 93 posts during the final. In comparison, there were 920 racist posts identified per hour at the peak of communications on Twitter in the aftermath of England's penalty misses in last year's final.

The analysis of the hate speech posts found:-

►  23 of England's 25 woman squad were targeted with hateful posts.

►  The majority of the hate speech was identified as misogynistic (96%) and 4% homophobic.

►  Hotspots were identified as:- London, Manchester, Liverpool and Sheffield.

►  97% were made on Twitter, with 3% on Reddit, 1% on 4Chan, and 94% remain live.

►  54% were from Twitter accounts based in the UK and 91% of the abusive posts were sent by users identifying as men.

►  Online hate speech peaked in the late evenings between 7pm and 10pm and then sharply declined between football matches.

"The vast majority of sexist posts that may be considered grossly offensive remain live, suggesting that moderation efforts are not having an impact on removing hate speech and that social media platforms need to take extra measures to protect users from being subject to abusive communications online. Campaigns such as EE's Hope United, Kick It Out, Show Racism the Red Card, and Rainbow Laces are working to raise awareness and prevention of hate through the footballing calendar; but there is still a long way to go before we see online abuse disappear from platforms. Governments and social media companies need to go further, but ultimately, until the majority of users of these platforms become upstanders against hate instead of bystanders, we are unlikely to see the eradication of hateful abuse from our online spaces." said Professor Williams, who is based at Cardiff University's School of Social Sciences.

HateLab was established via funding from the Economic and Social Research Council.

1.1 million families claiming Tax Credits to receive 1st Cost of Living Payment

AROUND 1.1 million claimant families receiving Tax Credits will get their 1st Cost of Living Payment, from Friday, 2 September 2022, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has confirmed.

This £326 Government payment will be paid automatically into eligible Tax Credit only customers' bank accounts, between 2 and 7 September 2022. The 1st HMRC payments will total around £360 million.

Nadhim Zahawi, Chancellor of the Exchequer, said:- "I know people are really concerned by rising prices so I'm glad that over a million more low earners will shortly receive their 1st Cost of Living Payment. We are also preparing options for further support so the new Prime Minister can hit the ground running. Alongside £400 off most people's energy bills, tax cuts and the Household Support Fund, these direct payments are a very important part of our £37 billion package of help for households, which is targeted at those who need it most."

Angela MacDonald, HMRC's Deputy Chief Executive and 2nd Permanent Secretary, said:- "This 1st Cost of Living Payment will provide vital financial support for eligible Tax Credit only claimants across the UK. A second payment will be made to eligible customers from the winter. The money will be paid automatically into bank accounts, so people don't need to do anything to get this extra help."

These latest payments mean that more than 8 million eligible households, in receipt of a means tested benefit, that will have received the 1st of 2 automatic Cost of Living payments of £326 since 14 July 2022. The 2nd means tested payment of £324 will be issued later this year; from the Autumn for DWP Benefit Claimants, and from the winter for Tax Credit only customers.

Tax Credit claimants who also receive benefits from the Department for Work and Pensions will have already received their 1st Cost of Living Payment, from July 2022.

The Cost of Living payments from the Government are part of a £37 billion package of support, which will see millions of low-income households receive at least £1,200 this year to help cover rising costs.

As well as the Cost of Living Payment, other Government support includes:-

►  £400 discount from the Government to help with the cost of energy bills from October onwards.

►  £150 Council Tax Rebate for Council tax bands A-D in England.

►  £300 Pensioner Cost of Living Payment that will be paid alongside Winter Fuel Payments.

►  £150 Disability Cost of Living Payment, from 20 September 2022, for those receiving an eligible UK disability benefit.

This is all in addition to changes to the Universal Credit taper rate and work allowances worth £1,000 a year on average for 1.7 million working claimants; a rise in the National Living Wage to £9.50 an hour; and a tax cut for around 30 million workers through a rise in National Insurance contribution thresholds.

The Government is offering help for households. Customers should check GOV.UK to find out what cost of living support they could be eligible for.

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