Arsenal team up with Pixstory to drive out online hate

The made-in-India Pixstory app took centre stage at the Premier League match featuring Arsenal and Manchester United at the Emirates stadium on Sunday. NBA star and Pixstory brand ambassador Dwight Howard kicked off proceedings with a pitch for a cleaner social media. This was followed by more than 50,000 fans in the stadium using Pixstory clappers to make some noise and raise awareness against online hate. Using cutting-edge AI, Pixstory’s algorithms filter out hate speech, promoting decency in conversations and breaking the echo chambers that have formed on social media.

In attendance were global honchos from the corporate world, including Amit Mittal, former special advisor to President Joe Biden, Yosuke Sasaki, Softbank Chief of Staff, and Cara Sweeney, senior Coca-Cola official. They were joined by top journalists, including Variety‘s Executive Editor Steven Gaydos and Senior Editor of The Athletic, Kevin Coulson.

Apart from Arsenal, more marquee clubs including Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain Féminine have partnered with Pixstory in the mission to build a better social media space. The app is collaborating with the Oxford Internet Institute on research towards building a safer and more collaborative social platform.

The brains behind Pixstory include Chris Mattmann, Chief Technology Officer at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and inventor of Apache Tika, a framework for content detection and analysis.

The app’s global board includes Peter Watson, former chief of US International Development Finance Corporation, Koji Tsuruoka, Japan’s former ambassador to the UK, and Cody Keenan, former speechwriter for President Barack Obama, among other illustrious personalities.

Appu Suresh, Founder, Pixstory, commented:

“We are trying to create a space where integrity is valued over virality. Community over conflict. The truth over trolls. Our phone is the field, and our words are the football.“

A Pixstory spokesperson also stated:

“As clean energy is a response to climate change, clean social is Pixstory’s response to online toxicity. With close to a million users already spread across 120 countries, Pixstory is a beacon of hope, building trust online in a new way.“

Dwight Howard, NBA player and Pixstory ambassador, stated:

“I am an athlete, and more importantly, I am a father of five children. And I am worried about the state of social media today. Misinformation undermines our democracies and our societies. Imagine the toxicity, harassment and hate speech our children are at risk of enduring on a daily basis. I know how it affects me. And I don’t want any athlete, any child, any fan, or anyone on or off the field, to go through this.“