Sky partners with firm to combat online abuse

The Chicago Sky are partnering with a technology company that said it helped the FBI track an alleged stalker of Caitlin Clark to further combat online harassment of players and coaches, the team announced Tuesday.

The Sky said they will become the first WNBA team to partner with Moonshot, a firm founded by national security professionals that aims to end online abuse and violence. It will use its technology to identify and remove concerning content, assess credible risks and take action to mitigate harm, according to a release announcing the deal.

Discussions about the partnership began at the start of the WNBA season, after the opening game between the Sky and the Indiana Fever. Clark was called for a flagrant foul on the Sky's Angel Reese during the game. The WNBA launched an investigation into reported abuse directed at Reese but was unable to verify any hateful comments.

Moonshot CEO Vidhya Ramalingam told ESPN that the company flagged threatening posts directed toward Clark, which eventually led to the January arrest of a 55-year-old man in Indianapolis. He was charged with stalking Clark.

"Our systems flagged some abhorrent behavior coming from an individual who was fixated on Caitlin Clark," Ramalingam said. "He was going back and forth between like romantically obsessive posts and delusional posts, posts that were threatening violence."

The Clark stalking case came one month after a 40-year-old man pleaded guilty to stalking Paige Bueckers while she played for UConn.

Moonshot says 92% of women in public life experience abuse online, and 31% of this harassment is sexual in nature. The Sky said in the release that the partnership with Moonshot reflects the organization's commitment to player health and safety, including mental health and well-being.

"Hate and harassment have no place in sports," Nadia Rawlinson, co-owner and operating chairman of the Sky, said in the release. "Our partnership with Moonshot is about proactively tackling online hate, harassment, and abuse across social media and on the dark web, so our players and coaches can focus on the game of basketball and delighting our fans around the world."

Rawlinson added that female athletes, especially women of color and members of the LGBTQIA+ community, face disproportionate amounts of online harassment and threats of violence.

"Unfortunately, these incidents are increasing commensurately with the growth in women's sports, sports betting, and use of artificial intelligence," Rawlinson said.