Cristiano Ronaldo the most insulted player on Twitter? A new study shows

Cristiano Ronaldo and Manchester United star and captain Harry Maguire were the Premier League players who received the most insults on Twitter last season, according to a new report published. Nearly three-quarters of Premier League footballers received abusive messages and some were abused on a daily basis.

The report, conducted by The Alan Turing Institute and Ofcom, using new technology, analyzed 2.3 million messages directed at Premier League players during the first five months of the 2021-22 season. It found 60,000 posts deemed abusive and 68% of top-flight players received at least one message in that period.

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One in 14 players received abusive tweets every day, according to the report, and half of all abusive messages were directed at 12 players who received an average of 15 per day.

Ronaldo received 12,520 abusive tweets to Maguire's 8,954, while Marcus Rashford, also of Manchester United, was third on this list with 2,557. Eight 'Red Devils' players featured in the top 10.

Social media abuse

"These findings reveal the extent to which footballers are subject to vile abuse on social networks," said Dr. Bertie Vidgen, lead author of the report and director of online safety at the Alan Turing Institute. "While tackling online abuse is difficult, we cannot let it go unchallenged. More must be done to stop the worst forms of content to ensure that players can do their jobs without being abused."