AS THE INTERNATIONAL CRICKET COUNCIL (ICC) continues its fight against online abuse, stars from the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 have highlighted the importance of creating safer online spaces for athletes. So far, more than 100 women’s cricketers have signed up for the ICC Player Protection Programme, which is delivered in partnership with Freedom2hear (formerly GoBubble) and works with international cricketers to silence trolls on social media platforms, a media release said.
There were over 50 new sign-ups before the start of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026, while the service provides additional protection across official ICC social media accounts. Seven of the 12 teams competing at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 are protected, with umpires and broadcasters also registered.
After the first week of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026, the tool had reviewed nearly 250,000 comments and removed almost 60,000 harmful pieces of content. More than 2,000 repeat offenders had temporary restrictions put on their interactions, and 370 users were blocked.
First introduced ahead of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024, the programme is a key component of the ICC’s wider approach to player wellbeing and safeguarding. The programme has been operated across all ICC events since then, helping participants engage confidently with fans while reducing exposure to harmful online content.
The non-intrusive technology allows individual parameters to be tailored by the players themselves in conjunction with Freedom2hear, and players can join the programme at any point via remote onboarding during the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026.
