Swimming Australia Launches ‘Flickbait’ to Combat AI-Generated Disinformation

Swimming Australia has unveiled “Flickbait,” a dedicated digital resource designed to identify and denounce the proliferation of non-factual and AI-generated social media content targeting its athletes.

As digital disinformation becomes increasingly sophisticated, Swimming Australia has moved to safeguard its community by providing a transparent, fact-checked platform that empowers the public and media to verify the authenticity of social media posts.

The initiative serves as a proactive response to a rising volume of reports from athletes and their families concerning fake accounts and fabricated narratives. These range from malicious anti-transgender misinformation involving Olympic swimmers to falsified quotes attributed to high-performance coaching staff.

While the organisation continues to collaborate with the eSafety Commissioner, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), and Meta to remove harmful content, the “Flickbait” portal allows the governing body to publicly address and label verified falsehoods in real-time.

Sharing how the organisation’s decision to adopt a more aggressive stance against fake news, Swimming Australia National Wellbeing and Engagement manager, Linley Frame, said: “We have seen a rise in the number of reports from our athletes and members of the Swimming Australia community of posts which are clearly from fake accounts and many have caused great distress.”

“We will continue to work hard to close down these posts with the relevant bodies but rather than sit back and see these posts liked, shared and commented on, we thought it was our responsibility to be proactive and denounce the content as Flickbait,” Frame said. 

Olympic gold medallist and world-record holder, Mollie O’Callaghan, who has personally been the target of fabricated social media claims, has welcomed the initiative as a critical step for athlete safety.

“It’s a scary thing. You don’t want people impersonating you and making statements that aren’t true. I had to remind everyone to check their sources and Flickbait is a great first step for the public – and media – to rule out the fakes.”

“I hope other sports follow suit,” O’Callaghan stated. 

The “Flickbait” portal, housed on the official Swimming Australia website, will feature a searchable database of identified fabrications, each clearly marked with a red cross to indicate their status as disinformation.

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