Fanatics Sportsbook is to begin suspending or permanently banning customers who abuse athletes, coaches or officials on social media.
Fanatics Sportsbook is to begin suspending or permanently banning customers who abuse athletes, coaches or officials on social media, as part of a new industry initiative designed to identify and restrict so-called ‘bad actors’.
From the start of the 2026 NFL season, Fanatics will work with integrity specialist IC360 and social media intelligence provider Signify Group to identify customers who post abusive or threatening content across major social media platforms.
Individuals classified as bad actors will be added to a database that enables participating sportsbooks to suspend or restrict accounts. Fanatics Sportsbook is the first legal sports betting member of the ‘Bad Actor Programme’.
The initiative combines Signify’s Threat Matrix social media monitoring platform with IC360’s ProhiBet system. It will flag consumers who direct abuse or threats at athletes, coaches and officials.
Monitoring will cover public activity across X, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube, with athletes also able to submit abusive direct messages for investigation.
Serious threats could result in legal action
The programme will not be limited to operators, with sports leagues and teams also invited to join the new scheme. Signify already provides social media protection services to various sports organisations globally.
Information will be shared with all participants, while, in the most serious cases, abuse and threats could be referred to law enforcement.
“The scheme falls in line with our core values at Fanatics – respect and tolerance for the athletes and coaches that play the games that we love,” said Matt King, CEO of Fanatics Betting and Gaming.
“We encourage other operators to join the initiative because there is no sports betting potential loss that should embolden a sports betting customer to threaten or harass an athlete online.”
Jonathan Hirshler, CEO of Signify Group, added: “Over the last few years, many of our global sports clients have been calling for betting and gaming operators to tackle this growing problem head on.
“This is a clear message to anyone who believes threatening, harassing or abusing athletes online is simply part of being a fan: it is not.”