Lailanie Burnes. 2 December 2019. Photo: Screengrab/Facebook/Fiji Rugby
Former Fijiana XV captain Lailanie Burnes says she has learned to set strong emotional and mental boundaries when it comes to online abuse.
fijivillage.com reported that Burnes spoke on the issue for Safer Internet Day.
Burnes said that while social media helps athletes stay connected, it also exposes them to criticism.
"We're Fiji; we are passionate people," she said.
"When it comes to rugby, it is our national sport. So with rugby, whether we win or lose, there's always going to be something that somebody has to say.
"When it comes to women rugby players, it seems as though no matter what we do, negativity usually outweighs the positive. It's a sad state to be in."
Burnes said that given the toxicity, she has learned to set strong emotional and mental boundaries, choosing to block or ignore hateful comments rather than engaging.
The Fijiana celebrate qualifying for their first ever Rugby World Cup. Photo: Oceania Rugby
She also said she limits her time on social media before and after any matches to maintain focus and protect her mental health.
A Rugby League Players Association survey last year said NRLW players receive twice as much online abuse as their male counterparts in the NRL and two in three do not report incidents.
It claimed eight percent of NRLW players have received targeted abuse and four percent have experienced racism, while 67 percent of players chose not to report the incidents, and one-third believed they would not be supported if they spoke out.
A World Athletics study, conducted during the Paris Olympics, showed 809 total posts were verified as abusive, with 128 posts and comments escalated to the relevant social platform for further action.
Female athletes were targeted with a mixture of sexual and sexist abuse, and almost half of the detected content fell under the general abuse category - which is defined as 'content flagged as abusive in nature but does not contain discriminatory language relating to a specific category'.
A total of 355,873 posts and comments were captured and analysed for abusive content across 36 different languages and dialects.
Racism was the largest category of detected abuse targeting male athletes, making up 26 percent.
Also during the Paris Games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) put in place an artificial intelligence-powered cyber abuse protection service.
Photo: AFP
It analysed 2.4 million posts and comments from the 20,000 athletes' and officials' social media handles, in real time.
It found male athletes accounted for approximately 70 per cent of all athletes targeted by online abuse, while the dominant type of abuse was gender-based, with sexual/sexist violence specifically targeted at female athletes.
Another report, released in January 2024 by the UK's Loughborough University and commissioned by the IOC, showed social media abuse aimed at athletes has risen considerably in recent years.
Researchers found that abusive social media posts included primarily hateful, discriminatory, and emotional forms of harassment, especially towards female athletes.
Example tweets included calling an athlete "an embarassment" and saying a competitor's political view made them "a disgusting human being".
One person interviewed, who did communications for a National Olympic Committee, said an athlete's direct messages "were just absolutely swarmed with sexual comments".
In discussing an athlete who first experienced such abuse nearly 10 years ago, another participant said the athlete is "still dealing with the fallout".
The researchers recommended the development of a comprehensive, global, harmonised social media policy framework to safeguard athletes from online abuse.
