WEALTH February 22, 2026 0 Comments

Why Sport’s Digital Revolution Could Make or Break the Entire Industry—And What You Need to Know Now

When Swim Ireland announced they were stepping away from X, it wasn’t a flashy boycott or some knee-jerk move—it was calculated risk management at its finest. Integrity and safeguarding took the front seat in their decision, calling out the platform’s shaky “ethos,” “lack of adequate controls,” and the now notorious Grok AI as factors that clashed blatantly with their core values. You’ve got to ask yourself—when does the risk outweigh the reach? Especially when you’ve just topped the charts in engagement per 1,000 followers. This isn’t just about losing a social media channel; it’s about redefining where and how communities connect, especially when safety and trust hang in the balance. Irish sports bodies aren’t just stepping back—they’re making a statement: some platforms just don’t cut it anymore, no matter their size or legacy. Ready to dive into why this matters beyond the scoreboard? LEARN MORE

When Swim Ireland posted a one-minute statement on January 19 titled ‘We’re stepping away from X’, it didn’t read like a grandstanding boycott, writes Rob Hartnett.

It read like risk management.

“Integrity and safeguarding” were the key words, alongside a blunt assessment: the platform’s “ethos”, “lack of adequate controls” and “current implementation of Grok AI” no longer aligned with the organisation’s values or its approach to “transparent, responsible communication”.

This was not a decision taken lightly.

In our monthly review with Olytico of Irish sporting organisations’ performance across social media, Swim Ireland had just come out on top in the engagement per 1,000 followers metric.

Four days earlier, on January 15, Paralympics Ireland had already decided to discontinue posting on X after a review that found the platform under-performing on “meaningful engagement, audience connection and positive discussion”.

Again, these are not decisions taken lightly.

Irish sport has spent a decade building direct-to-fan channels because traditional media can’t carry every story, every athlete, every grassroots programme.

X (and Twitter before it) has been a particularly powerful tool for real-time updates, crisis communications, sponsor announcements and the live conversation around major events.

It still is, but opening comments on posts is no longer something anyone relishes. And from a reach perspective, the exodus of many from the platform has resulted in monthly engagements for December 2025 being only 20 per cent of what they were in 2023.

So when organisations walk away from that reach, it tells you two things at once: that the perceived harm has begun to outweigh the utility, and that the alternative platforms are now strong enough to carry the load.

What tipped this from “X is unpleasant” to “X is operationally unsafe” is the Grok controversy — specifically, the ability to manipulate real images into non-consensual sexualised content.

Sport is uniquely exposed to that kind of abuse because it posts images of people constantly: athletes in competition gear, teenagers at events, volunteers at community days, kids at camps, parents at blitzes.

Sport places great importance on safeguarding, duty of care, training, policies, reporting structures and reputation.

Grok seems to be the moment that the platform shifted from reputational risk (toxicity, pile-ons, harassment) to participant safety risk (image-based abuse), with a side order of legal and compliance uncertainty.

This is not just about two organisations.

It’s a bellwether. When a national governing body publicly states that “adequate controls” aren’t there, it implicitly raises a question for every other sports body: can you justify staying, and on what basis?

Sport Ireland’s confirmation that its use of X was “under review” mattered. It shifted the conversation from individual preference to sector-level scrutiny — and it echoed Sport England’s decision to suspend its X channel as part of its values and safety stance.

Sponsors will be watching closely.

Not because they’re desperate for logos on X, but because sponsor teams now run on brand safety, ESG commitments and employee expectations.

If an area where they may be seen is considered unsafe, that is a problem.

Leaving isn’t entirely free. You lose a searchable, public archive of past announcements (unless you keep the account as a static archive, as Swim Ireland plans to do).

You need to retrain audiences: “This is where news breaks now.”

You must retool your measurement of success in this area. Impressions on X don’t map neatly to TikTok reach or LinkedIn engagement.

Paralympics Ireland’s approach is smart.

They are re-routing their community to the platforms that best match different needs.

TikTok for discovery, Instagram for storytelling, LinkedIn for partners and policy, and Bluesky for real-time conversation with a different tone.

For years, Irish sport treated X as a utility — the public square where journalists, fans, athletes and organisations bumped into each other.

The problem is that a public square only works if people feel safe walking through it.

Now the sector has to unbundle what X used to provide.

Real-time updates can be handled by Instagram Stories, WhatsApp channels, Threads, Bluesky or live blogs on owned platforms.

TIrish sport has spent a decade building direct-to-fan channels because traditional media can’t carry every story, every athlete, every grassroots programme.

Customer service and issue response may shift to email, DMs on Instagram or website forms (which are slower, but safer and auditable).

Media relations will rely more on direct lists, group chats and proactive newsroom outreach, as many already are.

Community conversation will fragment — and that’s not automatically bad, if it becomes healthier.

Irish sport has always been brilliant at adapting under pressure.

The next adaptation is digital: building communities where the athletes, the kids coming through and the volunteers who keep the lights on are not treated as collateral in someone else’s engagement machine.

Rob Hartnett is the founder of Sport for Business, a publishing, events and networking business at the heart of the commercial world