Fare Network

About Fare Network
Fare Network’s mission is to use the inclusive power of footballgrassroots organisations to combat discrimination in all its forms

to tackle discrimination, to advance the social inclusion of- racism, far-right activities, sexism, trans- and homophobia andmarginalised and disenfranchised groups, and to engage policy

against people with disabilities.”makers, governing bodies and players in the fight against
discrimination.

Based in London and the Netherlands, Fare has grown since its
foundation in 1999 into an international organisation with more“We want to make discrimination in football a thing of the past,”

than 150 members across more than 40 European countries, withsays Pavel Klymenko, Head of Policy for Global Monitoring andactivists in the United States, South Africa and Brazil.

Human Rights for Fare, “So we work with fan groups, NGOs and

The impact of Google.org funding
Google.org is supporting the extension of Fare Network’s anti-“But it’s not a simple problem. A lot of hate speech is highly

discrimination work into the online world, focusing on how farcontextual. There’s no way a social media company would banright groups combine online and offline activity around football toa monkey or banana emoji, but at the same time it is a very

increase sharing of their views, and to radicalise and recruit young

common way to racially abuse a black player and it’s incrediblypeople.

dehumanising.”“We have two main components to this project,” says Pavel,“The first is using artificial intelligence and machine learning tocapture and analyse online hate speech. The second is linking
our monitoring of online abuse to our monitoring of abuse that
happens in the stadium.”

Fare has identified what it describes as an “enormous base level” of
24/7 online abuse related to football.

We want to make discrimination in
football a thing of the past.

Through their monitoring tool, Fare is aiming to find a way toFare sees the Google.org grant an essential contribution to theirquickly and effectively identify abuse and hate speech, remove itwork, but also confirmation of Google’s commitment to the fightand ensure the perpetrators are held to account.

against discrimination.

“The anonymity of social networks is often cited as a contributing“We’ve really appreciated the freedom Google.org has given us.

factor. However, most of the abuse is not anonymous and theJust because we’re part funded by Google.org doesn’t mean we’repeople responsible for it don’t face the consequences when they

not looking at Google products as well. They’ve helped us withput it online.”scaling our project, with support and with workshops to help us
improve. There’s been no micromanagement – Google.org has

The second component for Fare is linking their online and offline

trusted the robustness of the project.”

monitoring systems designed to better understand how far rightgroups use football to radicalise young people.

“There is a very widespread problem with organised far rightgroups, especially in Central and Eastern Europe using football forradicalisation. Many fan groups are dominated by the far-right. A
young kid goes to a game, where they see neo-Nazi banners andplayers being racially abused, and they join in. They learn these

Most of the abuse is notanonymous, and yet these people
don’t face the consequences when
they put it online.

ideological views and abusive behaviours, and join the fan groups
doing them in the stadium and online.” Peer-to-peer radicalisation
happens very quickly. Children are likely to take up interest insports way earlier than interest in any kind of politics. We can’t
afford stadiums and online spaces around football to become theirgateways to radicalisation.

Key insights
Due to the Covid pandemic delays, the project will run from mid-

The social media monitoring tool is being rolled out at UEFA and2020 to mid-2023.

FIFA matches in 2022.

Despite stadiums being empty during the pandemic, the Fare

An education manual about the dangers of radicalisation will be

Network noted an increase in hate speech on social media asavailable in 10 countries across Europe as an output from the tool.

online activity increased.