WNBA's Chicago Sky Announce Partnership With Online Safety Firm Moonshot
The Chicago Sky announced a first-of-its-kind collaboration in an attempt to limit targeted harassment against its players and staff.
- The Chicago Sky partnered with online safety firm Moonshot to fight online hate, harassment, and abuse targeting gamers and coaches.
- The team is the first in the WNBA to implement innovation to dangers across social media and the dark web.
- The relocation comes in the middle of rising abuse in ladies's sports, with the Sky distinctively at the center given their prominent star Angel Reese.
According to a release Tuesday, the club partnered with online safety company Moonshot to "leverage national security innovation to keep the group's complete roster safe," becoming the very first WNBA team to get in such an agreement.
"Hate and harassment have no location in sports," said Nadia Rawlinson, co-owner and operating chairman of the Chicago Sky. "Our collaboration with Moonshot has to do with proactively dealing with online hate, harassment, and abuse throughout social networks and on the dark web, so our gamers and coaches can concentrate on the video game of basketball and thrilling our fans around the world."
Moonshot, according to the release, is a premier worldwide providers to end online abuse and violence, with previous collaborations including the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic groups, teams across NCAA sports, along with major tech companies such as Google, Facebook, and Spotify.
The contract's objective ultimately looks for to fix the list of online harassment the Sky's professional athletes deal with, identify and get rid of worrying material, assess and mitigate risks, and attack underlying causes and motorists of online abuse thanks to a devoted group of online security professionals.
Chicago Sky distinctively in crosshairs
"The information is perfectly clear. Female professional athletes, specifically females of color and members of the LGBTQIA+ neighborhood, face disproportionate amounts of online harassment, abuse, and hazards of violence," Rawlinson included via the release. "Unfortunately, these occurrences are increasing commensurately with the growth in females's sports, sports betting, and usage of expert system."
It's perhaps no mishap too the Chicago Sky selected to become trailblazers in the field and proactively looked for methods to protect their stars.
Most significantly, the Sky are led by star Angel Reese, whose role as something of a foil to burgeoning WNBA megastar Caitlin Clark put her squarely in the middle of considerable hate. Just last month, Reese was apparently the victim of racist remarks during the Sky's season opener versus Clark's Indiana Fever.
"There's no location in this league for that," Reese said of the supposed comments. "The WNBA and our team and our company has actually done a fantastic task supporting me."
That was simply the current event the Sky faced. However, last season the Sky handled alleged taunts that included racist language as they exited their team bus ahead of a game against the Washington Mystics.
"We are honored to support the Chicago Sky in this tactical and pioneering effort to secure their gamers and coaches. Our work is grounded in a years of national security experience understanding the origins of online abuse and what to do about it," stated Vidhya Ramalingam, CEO of Moonshot. "We are grateful for the chance to leverage our technology and competence to advance player safety at a time when interest in females's sports is at an all-time high. We hope this distinct, first-of-its-kind collaboration will act as a model for other sports teams and leagues."
Just last month, the Chicago Sky revealed a collaboration with bet365, the first WNBA group to do so. Now, the franchise is leading the way in combating hate and harassment.