TikTok and Six Nations Rugby team up to #SwipeOutHate and improve online safety for sports fans

Popular social media site TikTok has announced a new partnership with Six Nations Rugby, as they seek to raise awareness of online safety.

TikTok has declared itself an official fan of both the Guinness Men's and Women's Six Nations Championships. The new deal will give the TikTok community a unique window into the 2024 Guinness Six Nations, while also raising awareness of TikTok's online safety features through its #SwipeOutHate campaign.

Running throughout both the men's and women's Guinness Six Nations, the Swipe Out Hate campaign aims to protect rugby fans on TikTok from hate speech, and also seeks to educate users about TikTok's range of reporting tools to prevent harmful behaviour on the platform.

Aoife Moran, Sports Marketing Lead EUI at TikTok, said: "Since the start of our partnership with Six Nations Rugby, rugby has truly taken off on TikTok and it has been amazing to see how our platform has evolved into a vibrant destination for rugby fandom online. But we know there's always more to do when it comes to eradicating online hate speech in sports."

In the UK and France, Swipe Out Hate will be spotlighted during the Championships in a large-scale advertising campaign across out-of-home, print and social media, and on-demand streaming services, with additional TikTok in-app activity in all six countries involved in the Championships.

As part of the partnership, the TikTok community will also have access to a wealth of bespoke content from rugby's greatest Championships, capturing everything from match highlights and training clips, to fan reactions and creator videos. This will be available via TikTok's official #SixNationsRugby Search Hub, which has been named as a one-stop-shop for Guinness Six Nations action throughout both the Men's and Women's Championships.

TikTok's creators will be giving users an insight into the full matchday experience, with videos that document pre-match build up, live reaction and everything in between. The #SixNationsRugby hashtag, the home of Guinness Six Nations content in-app, currently stands at over nine billion views, and the official @sixnationsrugby account has reached over half a million followers. The #WomensRugby TikTok hashtag has over 900M views, with 159,000 followers of the @womenssixnations TikTok account and 2.3 million likes so far.

Sarah Beattie, Chief Marketing Officer at Six Nations Rugby, said: "TikTok have been an incredible partner for Six Nations Rugby, helping us on our mission to reach and engage new fans with each of the Championships. TikTok will play an important role in helping us grow rugby’s audience, celebrate the game and it's stars as well as foster that incredible sense of community that rugby instinctively generates through compelling content."

The 2024 Guinness Men's Six Nations Championships kicks off Friday February 2 when Ireland takes on France. The Women's Six Nations Championships starts on Saturday February 23, following the conclusion of the Men's Championships.

To read more about TikTok's approach to combatting hate on its platform, visit its 'Countering hate' page, as part of its community guidelines.