An overview shows France's #25 Quentin Jouffroy walking across the game field with the logo of the Paris 2024 Olympics during the volleyball men's quarter-final match between France and Germany during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the South Paris Arena 1 in Paris on August 5, 2024. (Photo: AFP)

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Friday published the Online Abuse and Sport report from the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games, seeking for a better protection of athletes and safeguarding of the online communities.

Marking Safe Sport Day on August 8, IOC published the findings from its Cyber-Abuse Protection Service (CAPS), identifying nearly 25,000 abusive messages from 4.3 million posts and comments across the two Games.

After monitoring around 20,000 accounts and 45 languages during Paris 2024, and more than 6,000 accounts and 56 languages at Milano Cortina 2026, AI flagged approximately 242,000 posts and comments as potentially abusive for human review, and subsequently verified around 24,700 abusive posts and comments.

"Online abuse is a significant safeguarding issue across sport and, while it takes place online, it does not remain confined to digital spaces and can cause real and lasting physical, psychological, reputational and economic harm," the IOC announced.

Although the content doesn't meet thresholds for platform removal or criminal prosecution, IOC said, these harmful online behaviors are still "lawful but awful".

"(It) can still cause real and lasting harm. This emphasizes the need for prevention strategies, education and digital literacy, and response mechanisms that recognize the broader impact of online abuse," IOC said.