The NCAA has released the summary analysis from this year's Division I men's and women's basketball study, which monitored public comments targeting the online profiles of student-athletes, coaches, officials and committee members associated with the men's and women's basketball championships.
Throughout the tournaments, Signify monitored social media accounts across X (formerly Twitter), Instagram and TikTok to identify targeted online abuse. One player also used the Threat Matrix automated Direct Message service to receive further protection from harassment.
"One of the first things student-athletes told me when I became NCAA president was that they were being harassed online by people who are following or betting on their games," NCAA President Charlie Baker said. "From day one, it's been a priority to study this issue, monitor the public interactions, protect student-athletes and allow them to focus on being students and competing at the highest level on the court with their teammates."
Across the March Madness project, Threat Matrix coverage monitored the accounts of 2,032 players, 346 coaches, 136 teams and 269 game officials and selection committee members.Â
More than 1 million posts and comments that mentioned players, teams, officials and stakeholders involved in March Madness were analyzed. Of the 54,096 posts and comments flagged by Signify AI for potential abuse or threat, 3,161 were confirmed as abusive or threatening by Signify human analysts. These messages were reported to the relevant social media platforms and where necessary sent to law enforcement, leading to restrictions on social media accounts and abusive posts removed from the platform. Signify conducted 103 investigations into accounts posting threatening content and referred 10 matters to law enforcement.
"After the game (against Southern California), I received all kinds of messages, so many of them hateful and abusive, and the NCAA and Signify helped to support me and manage the harassment I was receiving," Mississippi State women's basketball player Chandler Prater said. "It was unlike anything I'd ever experienced before." Mississippi State lost 96-59 in the regional finals.
Broadly, the Signify study revealed significant changes from the 2024 March Madness study:
- On the women's side, total abuse was down approximately 83%, and betting-related abuse declined 66%.
- On the men's side, total abuse increased 140%, while abuse related to sports betting decreased 36%.
- Across all participants, abuse related to sports betting was down 23%.
"We have been encouraged to record a reduction in sports betting-related abuse and threat at the 2025 event, as this is often the trigger for the most egregious and threatening content we detect," said Jonathan Hirshler, Signify Group's CEO. "By supporting the NCAA in demonstrating that abusers can be identified and will be reported to law enforcement — where criminal thresholds are broken — it is possible to see a deterrent effect in play. We are proud to support the NCAA in this crucial space and will continue to expand the layers of protection available to its athlete and wider community, such as DM support, in the months ahead."
In 2024, Signify found that 42% of social media abuse during March Madness directly targeted student-athletes, while in 2025 this number decreased to 15%. Also this year, the NCAA launched its "Don't Be a Loser" campaign which focused on reducing student-athlete centered abuse.
The collaboration with Signify is one component of the NCAA's strategy to combat the negative impacts of sports betting. As the sports betting ecosystem has grown, so has the NCAA's commitment to providing education, integrity resources and research.Â
The NCAA launched a public service announcement in March called "Don't Be a Loser" as part of its Draw the Line campaign calling on fans to curb the abuse directed at student-athletes, coaches, officials and administrators.
The NCAA has collaborated with EPIC Global Solutions since 2022 to provide betting harm education available to every NCAA school with a blend of delivery options, and in March announced an extension of that collaboration. Over 100,000 student-athletes, coaches and administrators have been part of the NCAA's educational efforts with EPIC, the largest program of its kind globally. In 2023, the NCAA began advocating for updates to existing sports betting laws and regulations to protect student-athletes from harassment or coercion, address the negative impacts of problem gambling and protect the integrity of NCAA competition.
In April, the NCAA and Genius extended their long-term partnership through September 2032. For the first time in college or professional sports, sportsbooks licensing NCAA championship data must ban several categories of high-risk prop bets, including:
- Player-specific underperformance bets (e.g., fewer points, rebounds or yards).
- Negative outcomes easily manipulated by a single athlete (e.g., fouls, missed shots).
- Bets on injuries, health events or officiating decisions.
- Bets on off-field actions (e.g., transfers, going pro).
- Novelty bets (e.g., color of Gatorade, anthem length).
- Awards decided exclusively by public vote.
The fifth iteration of the NCAA's student-athlete gambling study was released in January during the NCAA Convention, further highlighting the issues Baker and the NCAA are passionate about curbing.
"Online abuse isn't an issue the NCAA can solve on its own, so it's been critical to form strong relationships with a variety of stakeholders to make progress," said Clint Hangebrauck, NCAA managing director of enterprise risk management. "While the data shows some progress has been made in areas of focus, there is clearly still a lot of collaborative work to be done to create a better environment for our student-athletes and other NCAA stakeholders."
While social media abuse directly targeting student-athletes has decreased, experiencing social media abuse may negatively impact student-athletes mental health. The NCAA provides evidence- and consensus-based guidance for member schools in supporting student-athletes mental health through various resources including the Mental Health Best Practices document.
In December 2023, the NCAA announced that it engaged Signify Group to provide its Threat Matrix service to support the Association in studying and responding to online abuse and threats directed at NCAA championship participants, including student-athletes, coaches, officials and committee members. This unique initiative was implemented to further promote the mental health and well-being of the college sports community through data collection, analytics and action. Signify continues to monitor other NCAA championships. More info about last year's Signify study can be found here.
If you are a student-athlete or administrator interested in learning more about these efforts, please contact Hangebrauck at changebrauck@ncaa.org.
