By Skye Slatcher
I open TikTok to Carlos Sainz’s video set to “Pour It Up” by Rihanna. I go across to X and am greeted by Alpine F1 Team’s own meme about the backlash after their car launch. I move to Instagram and find ESPN’s latest post about the NBA Celebrity All-Star game, not that I particularly care about it. I am constantly inundated with content about sports. Over 5 billion people use social media, growing yearly. With all of these posts out there all the time, what does it mean for fans like us, sportspeople, and creators themselves?
Social media is inescapable, so its involvement in the sports world will undoubtedly remain for a very, very long time. While there have been many discussions about the impact of social platforms on politics, teenagers, and general society, there have not been enough around athletes, teams, and leagues. I spoke to two sports content creators with large TikTok followings, to get a better understanding of the environment: Irene (@irenexsu), a 22-year-old based in New Jersey with over 45k followers, and Cristina (@cristina.fastcars), a 28-year-old Canadian in Vancouver with nearly 90k followers.
Fanbases, teams, and athletes are all present on social media now. It is the place to go for most forms of community discourse and commentary on recent events. Perhaps the most significant recent example of this was the news of Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari. Rumours took off the night before it became official, and those who followed it know what a bizarre and exciting time it was, especially on X. Irene emphasised the thrill of being able to see everyone’s reactions immediately. Also, short-form content has taken over. While it allows for quick insight into people’s opinions, it means we rarely get full stories. Soundbites and catchy quotes are often all we consume, meaning rumours spread more quickly with people not getting all the information. Every sport has always been filled with speculation, but social media have undoubtedly exacerbated this.
One key aspect I spoke to Irene and Cristina about is the rather bizarre romanticisation of sportspeople. In particular, the culture of edits and POVs (which, for those who haven’t seen them, involve some generally unrealistic story revolving around a romance between the athlete or celebrity and Y/N). It is an inevitable element of the fangirl-ification of sports. It has really always been there, as a way for groups of fans to express their own takes on sporting personalities. What we have seen with the explosion of social media is on a much bigger scale, with people going much further in the type of content they are creating. Cristina called this side of social media a ‘big no-no’ and ‘lacking social grace’. Irene said that she thinks part of the reason for the limits-crossing sexualised content is simply that ‘questionable’ content gets more views, and algorithms mean that this is what we see.
The most troubling part of all of this is that many of the users participating in this sort of content are of the younger audience, between 13 and 16. The sexualisation of athletes by such young viewers is cause for concern. I recently found a post where the user said there were ‘only 11 years’ between them and Lando Norris, wanting him to ‘wait for her’ to be older. He is 24, meaning the person behind that account is just 13 – a child. While I know that I too had celebrity crushes at 13, I was not posting content about it to a completely public platform. The way in which young fans engage with sports has been skewed by social media, with this takeover of romantic content.
In a field so heavily male-dominated, social media has had significant impacts on women. Irene shared the experiences of her friends receiving death threats on their accounts. It has given sexism and misogyny a direct platform for targeting specific creators or athletes, with divisions being created in fanbases, for example, women in F1 being called ‘DTS fans’ (used to discredit newer fans who joined after watching the Drive to Survive Netflix series) and belittled for their interests. But it has also allowed women to have a community to share opinions and find support. These networks have encouraged more women to break into sports-based careers, strengthening the fight for equality in the industry, and for those like Irene who aren’t looking for a career in it, it has become an incredible way to make like-minded connections. Social media has been a key reason for the rise in popularity of women’s sports, from the Women’s Euros to the WNBA. These positives should not be understated – the importance of these platforms in encouraging constructive change is powerful.
There have been real changes for sportspeople too. Cristina and I agree that being a media personality is part of the game – no sportsperson can escape it. One example in football was Newcastle’s Dan Burn celebrating a Champions League match win by doing his ‘TikTok-famous’ dance with Micah Richards and Jamie Carragher. The latter shouted, “We are going to smash the internet. TikTok, here we come!” Sports personalities are so aware of the importance of media that it has changed how they interact with cameras. Athletes are aware that edits will be made, and the social content of many has become representative of this. There is something strange about hearing an athlete on a live saying ‘put this in an edit’ – it is almost dystopian.
In some ways, it has made these stars feel much more accessible and relatable. Through seeing two-time F1 world champion Alonso posting TikTok trends, Gasly being breathalysed (a now-deleted photo), or Lewandowski enjoying time with his children, social media has granted us an incredible insight into the lives of these people. They have moved away from being wholly unattainable, almost god-like figures, to being seen as having normal lives outside of their sporting excellence.
But, it is more difficult for an athlete to reach elite levels of their sport if they are not marketable. The Formula series are most clearly at risk of this. With only 20 seats in F1, the competition to get one is fierce. It would be naive to think that the sport has ever been meritocratic, but social media threatens to exacerbate the issue. Only those who have the sponsorships and media following would be able to get a seat, meaning those who are perhaps more talented but lack the follower count will never make it to the elite level. On the other hand, Cristina suggested that maybe the outcome will be the opposite – maybe those who do not have the family funds to secure sponsorships will be able to capitalise on social media. While we can hope for future trends to encourage inclusivity and dismantle the elitism in F1, the reality is that this seems unlikely.
It has also meant that athletes’ actions have been under closer scrutiny than ever before. Bianca Bustamante, 18-year-old F1 Academy driver and McLaren Junior Academy member, recently found herself in a scandal after liking an ableist tweet about Lance Stroll. The backlash she received was immense, both to the tweet she liked and her apology post. People were relentless in attacking her for it, commenting on every one of her posts. Many took it as an opportunity to continue spewing misogyny. It was undoubtedly an awkward position for McLaren, having just signed her to their academy. But it was clearer than ever that sportspeople’s actions are watched under a microscope, and when a scandal arises it is hard to shake off. As Cristina and Irene agreed, this was surely made worse by the fact that she is a woman. Other athletes like Nick Kyrgios have highlighted how useful social media has been in uncovering the uncomfortable reality of the views they hold. He recently expressed support for Andrew Tate – the post remains up on his X. It is unlikely these views would have been made so public without the platforms, which allow for backlash and ‘cancelling’ when needed.
Audiences have also become transfixed by some idea that these athletes owe us their opinions on every political issue. Irene emphasised the fact that ‘we forget we don’t know these people’. Their careers rely on sponsorships and brand deals, so the fact that younger athletes in particular are not outspoken on every topic is not surprising. The desire by many fans to place these people on pedestals and immediately cancel them when their actions don’t present a clear stance on issues is an uncomfortable and strange phenomenon. It is imaginably damaging for sportspeople’s mental health to be constantly under pressure to act a certain way, at times in an attempt to almost appease fans. Many have spoken about the impact these platforms have had on them, seeing criticisms of their performances and being attacked for their character or opinions. Few know what this constant scrutiny on such a large scale feels like, but it is obvious that the personal impacts are not positive. Some fans need a reminder that while these athletes may well be deified icons of their sport, they are just people.
So, has social media ruined sport? Well, ruined might be an exaggeration, but there have certainly been some negative consequences of the expansion of sports on social media. Its importance will not be dwindling any time soon, but perhaps the threats it poses can be mitigated. Stricter measures on sexist and misogynistic harassment and protections for young people against overly sexualised content must be enforced more effectively. As teams and leagues continue to get to grips with the rapidly changing trend cycles and behaviour of fans of social media platforms, we will continue to see developments in how it all impacts the sport. For now, I will go back to my endless scrolling, enjoying F1 drivers pretending to be their pets and my favourite creators’ views on the coming seasons.
Illustration via Pixabay
