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Borussia Dortmund takes the fight against online hate to the digital pitch
Since deployment, Freedom2hear has moderated more than 4.2 million comments across Borussia Dortmund’s social channels, filtering over 416,000 harmful interactions while preserving genuine fan conversation.
For BVB, this is not a new position. The club's “United by Borussia” initiative, anchored in BVB’s DNA and honoured with UEFA's #EqualGame award, represents years of structured anti-discrimination work across fan engagement, education and community outreach. This partnership is the club's commitment to strengthen and transfer these ambitions also to the digital environment.
Daniel Lörcher, Vicepresident, Borussia Dortmund: “Borussia Dortmund embodies diversity and anti-discrimination on a day-to-day basis. With millions of fans and over 245,000 club members in mind, it goes without saying that we also want to ensure these values are upheld on our digital platforms. Our partnership with Freedom2hear supports our ambition of strengthening the digital space for daily interaction with our global fan community.”
To deliver on those values at scale, BVB turned to Freedom2hear, whose patented Emotion AI goes well beyond conventional keyword-blocking. The platform analyses the full context behind every comment – understanding cultural nuance, coded language and emotional intent in real time – across 15 harm categories. The result is moderation that catches what simpler tools miss, while leaving legitimate fan debate intact. Since deployment, BVB has seen a dramatic reduction in hate speech across its channels, with spam, illegal streaming links and other harmful content cleared from the conversation.
The data also points to where football's next challenge lies. Hate speech has fallen sharply, but harassment directed at individual players remains the most prevalent category of harmful content being filtered. Clubs across the sport are increasingly recognising this and investing in tools to address it. BVB's partnership with Freedom2hear is part of that growing movement. Footballers deserve the same defences that clubs are building for their fans.
Mark Krendel, CEO, Freedom2hear: “What impressed us most wasn't simply Borussia Dortmund's ambition, but the fact that safeguarding is already part of the club's DNA. Their commitment extends far beyond the stadium and into every aspect of the supporter experience. We're proud that our technology has been able to contribute to that vision, helping preserve a digital community where passionate football debate can flourish without abuse.”
BVB and Freedom2hear are continuing to develop their approach. The ambition is a BVB digital community that reflects the values of SIGNAL IDUNA PARK itself – over 81,000 voices, from every background and corner of the world, united by the game. Safe enough to be open. Loud enough to matter.