Hamilton and Russell urge social media platforms to take action after abuse of Latifi

2022 F1 season

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Lewis Hamilton and George Russell came to the defence of Nicholas Latifi following the abuse he received over his role in the controversial end to last year’s world championship.

The Williams driver’s crash in the final laps of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix triggered a Safety Car period which led to the contentious restart in which Hamilton was passed by Max Verstappen, losing the title.

Latifi later received abuse and death threats on social media. He said earlier this week he’d employed bodyguards during a trip into London as a result.

Hamilton believes social media companies haven’t done enough to crack down on those who use their platforms to spread abuse.

“I don’t think there’s been a huge change or shift, or enough work has been done from these social platforms,” he said. “We still have to apply pressure for them to make changes.

“Mental health is a real thing and through these social platforms, people are experiencing abuse and no one deserves that and it should never be tolerated. They’re able to change these things and make changes but they don’t seem to do it quick enough, so I think we need to continue to apply pressure.”

Latifi revealed earlier in the week Hamilton had contacted him following the race. “I was in touch with Nicholas, he has my full support and I know how difficult it can be in those situations,” Hamilton said. “And I think it’s important for him to know that he has support from people around him.”

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The strong feelings sport can arouse need to be expressed in a way that isn’t harmful, said Hamilton.

“You could see there is so much passion within this sport. That’s what really makes this sport so great, there is so much passion. But we’ve got to channel that in the positive way, not a negative.

Hamilton’s new team mate George Russell, who drove alongside Latifi at Williams last year, said he “absolutely agrees” with him.

“I think more needs to be done for athletes, for people in the spotlight because people behind the computer, behind the keyboard think they have a right to say what they like to somebody who is out there trying to make a career for themselves, and it’s almost forgotten that everybody is human.”

Russell said he needs to “learn and educate myself more about this” but feels that “something really needs to be done.”

“I felt really, really bad for Nicholas. He’s such an amazing guy. He’s put so much hard work and effort, and he’s progressed a huge amount.

“Mistakes happen. I know first hand how difficult that specific Williams car was to drive. He didn’t deserve at all to get what he received, so it definitely more needs to be done.”

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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11 comments on “Hamilton and Russell urge social media platforms to take action after abuse of Latifi”

  1. These two are on point. If you have nothing nice to say then don’t say anything.

    1. Robert is spot on.

      My 2 cents
      This has been a problem since the first message board was launched. I believe at some point there will be bots that leverage AI and Machine Learning to scrub posts and automatically remove problematic posts.

      This site like all others has armchair warriors ready for a battle of words and these folks have no problem implying someone is dumb because their opinions differ. It would be nice if we could click and hide seeing future post from certain users :)

      1. I’ve thought the same. The issue there, though, is you can embed up in danger of creating an echo chamber.

        Discussions are likely to end up getting heated occasionally, with the best will in the world, and people would be more likely to block those with differing views than those who hold the same opinion as them. This means you could, unintentionally, end up only hearing from those who agree with you, which can lead to you thinking that everyone agrees with you.

  2. Only an action would prove effective agains abuse over social media: closing them.

    For each social relationship arisen from social media, thousands of disrespect, hate and abuse emerge.

    1. One thing that would help would be to ban anonymous participation (or fake identities).

      I personally would be happy to subscribe (for real money) to a social media service where I could filter out all content and comments from non-subscribers.

  3. The problem is cultural, some people believe they have a right to use violent rhetoric directed towards people / events that do not agree with their sensibilities. These people need to learn to adjust themselves, learn how to relate kindly to others of opposing views, it is their problems they are projecting onto others.

    Censoring isn’t the answer, becoming more humane in your interactions with people you disagree with is the answer. Having platforms throw random algorithms to prevent expression will only end up with monotone agreement of the blandest type. The only voice you’ll eventually hear is the one sanctioned by the out of touch bureaucrat that controls the censor switch. No genuine discourse will be possible.

    1. They shouldn’t be censoring, this is true. However, someone making death threats against another human being should be dealt with.

      Were I in a pub, for instance, and started threatening to kill another patron, I would expect to be kicked out and probably barred. Same if I started hurling bigoted abuse at someone. I wouldn’t expect this for having a heated, but respectful, debate with someone. This is not censorship, it is protecting the patrons from abuse.

  4. Any word on what happened to Latifi’s race engineer for that race? Is he still working for Williams?

    1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dIrTMgHl1k

      A super agressive Race Engineer to Latifi:

      “follow instructions”

      lap 52:
      “Not this lap, next lap Nicky”, “… could be your last attempt”,

      lap 53 :
      “It has to be this lap mate, Do everything”.

      Then boom. That car crashes.

      The apparent reason for all this. A fruitless attempt to catch and overtake Shumacher in the Hass.
      Which ironically scuppers Hamilton’s attempt to overtake the other Shumacher.

  5. On the other hand, you can really control who can message you on social media, it’s up to you how much in the spotlight you want to be

  6. “Mental health is a real thing and through these social platforms, people are experiencing abuse and no one deserves that and it should never be tolerated. They’re able to change these things and make changes but they don’t seem to do it quick enough, so I think we need to continue to apply pressure.”

    Latifi revealed earlier in the week Hamilton had contacted him following the race. “I was in touch with Nicholas, he has my full support and I know how difficult it can be in those situations,” Hamilton said. “And I think it’s important for him to know that he has support from people around him.”

    Lewis Hamilton. A true champion.

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