Social media moderator Rupert targets sports sector

Social media company Rupert, which monitors for and quarantines negatives comments left on social channels, is launching into the sports market.

The 12-month-old company is now targeting sports federations, sports presenters and sports stars, after having worked with brands such as Brewdog and AXA Health to help keep their social channels clean of negative and other unwanted comments.

The company monitors all comments received across TikTok, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram and deals with any negative comments instantaneously.

These are automatically quarantined before they go live so toxic comments, spam and hate speech don’t appear in your feed. 

Rupert (which is the company name rather than an individual’s name at the company) can also automatically respond to non-negative comments in your brand’s tone.

It scans the last year of data on your socials and establishes a tone of voice for you and your brand and uses this to influence which negative comments are quarantined, and how it auto-replies to other comments.

So far, its sports clients have included Oxford United, Bath City FC, Puresport and MYO Master.

Rupert’s founder James Urquhart believes the broader sports sector would benefit from his company’s tools after reading a BBC report about how online abuse is driving football pundits, players and public personalities off social media. 

He said: “The digital environment surrounding football has become deeply hostile and the consequences are now spilling far beyond the screen. According to the BBC report, respected figures in the sport have stepped back from broadcasting or turned down career defining opportunities because they cannot face the relentless negativity that follows them online.”