F1 News
Sainz asks for help from press: 'Social media has become toxic'
- Ludo van Denderen
Probably every F1 driver has to deal with it: Negative and sometimes insulting or threatening messages on social media. Although it is never normal to anonymously scold others online, it has become the daily reality, even Carlos Sainz realises. The new Williams driver even calls social media "toxic".
As a Ferrari driver, Sainz was constantly in the spotlight. That got him closer to his supporters, but also to his haters. "I think social media is a very toxic place. It's always been a toxic place," said Sainz before pelading to the media.
"And from here, I obviously ask also the media, not the social media, to have a responsibility on the way you inform and you write articles and you inform those, let's say less educated or less understanding fans that are a bit more maybe biased to one side or the other, to make sure that we can also help them understand how this sport works, because it is a place that is becoming ever more toxic."
Sainz makes appeal to mainstream media
To achieve normalisation on social media, Sainz says some mainstream media have work to do. "The way you can inform, you can also create clickbait, which can then cause misunderstandings and miscommunications, and it can make people go even more biased or even more toxic."
All in all, Sainz concludes, "100%, (social media, ed.) it's not a healthy place in the world right now, and I'm not a big fan of it. But let's, between all of us, try to control or help to all these people that are at home and are feeling frustrated about one or the other, not to take too many light-hearted conclusions about one another."
This article was written in collaboration with Norberto Mujica
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