FIA president meets Elon Musk to discuss online abuse

FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem met with Elon Musk during the Miami Grand Prix weekend to discuss online abuse.

Musk took over Twitter in October last year and part of his planned reforms of the popular social media website is to allow for greater free speech, which has received some negative backlash from users who feel it will enable more hate speech and abuse on the platform to take place.

The FIA became the first governing body of sport to launch its own dedicated research centre into online hate last year, releasing a white paper entitled "A Strategic Response To Online Hate Speech In Sport."

The white paper sets out the "sustained and collaborative approach" the governing body will adopt to confront online toxicity, utilising AI technology to moderate content on social channels.

In a trial period, Mercedes found that toxic and unwanted comments were reduced by around 70% across their social media channels.

Ben Sulayem wrote on Twitter: "Great to meet @elonmusk at the Miami GP and discuss our mutual efforts to combat online abuse."

Musk was also seen in the Red Bull garage on Saturday prior to qualifying for the race, where he spoke to Christian Horner along with drivers Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez.