Social media has become extremely toxic nowadays, and Lewis Hamilton feels that fans should spend as little time on it as possible. He feels that rivalries in F1 fuel the toxicity, which will only increase in the years to come.
All F1 drivers have a huge fan following on social media nowadays. The likes of Hamilton, Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc, and Lando Norris have millions of fans all over the world who follow their updates on applications like Twitter and Instagram. Plenty of fans use this as a medium where they can showcase their support towards the driver they love.
However, more often than not, more hate is spread than love. Whenever there is something fans don’t agree with, they leave rude and hurtful comments directed at them. On top of that, even fans are subject to a lot of hate messages on these apps, and stopping them from happening has proved to be very difficult.
Earlier this week, 2022 World Champion Max Verstappen spoke out against the toxicity in social media. His arch-rival Hamilton, too, urges the companies to do something about this.
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Young kids and women need to be protected from social media, says Lewis Hamilton
Hamilton himself has been subject to a lot of hate comments on social media. Last year, when he infamously clashed with Verstappen in Silverstone, a huge part of the latter’s fanbase left hate messages on his social media posts.
Being one of the most famous athletes in the world, the 37-year-old is sadly used to it. He admits that he never reads those comments anyway, but is worried about the ones who do.
“So many people are reading comments and the stuff that people say and it is hurtful,” the Mercedes star said. “Fortunately I don’t read that stuff. But social media platforms definitely need to do more to protect people, particularly young kids and women.”
Toxicity on F1 Twitter will continue
Earlier this week Verstappen was adamant that Sky Sports’ recent comments on his 2021 Title win have only increased the toxicity on online platforms. His fans and Hamilton’s have been at a war of words, which has descended into hate and discriminatory online abuse.
Hamilton feels that unless social media companies take strict action against the abusers, the toxicity will continue and only increase with time.
