I find the IOC’s restrictions on social media with respect
to Olympic athletes a tricky one to argue.
On the one hand, I understand the desire to limit posting conditions, as
there can be huge PR repercussions with respect to both the athletes themselves
as well as their sponsors. There are
many reasons why a sponsor or a country representing an athlete would want to
remain conservative in the social media realm, including the avoidance of
embarrassment and violation of sponsor-athlete contracts. In addition, given all the buzz regarding
sexual activity around the “village”, it is understandable that certain parties
may want to enforce some communication boundaries. That said, on the other hand, we have the
inevitable fact that people will post whatever they want about anything, and
this may include Olympic athlete commentary.
Perhaps it is better to let the athletes speak as they wish and fuel the
social media marketing fire. Although, I
would say that I agree with the IOC that each athlete should be speaking about himself in diary form. On this last point I am torn between two reactions: (1) Fundamentally, I have reservations about
restrictions on freedom of speech; and (2) A sponsor should be able to enact
whatever restrictions it wants if it agrees to fund an athlete. To my second reaction, I will add that perhaps
it should be the sponsor who writes these social media limitations with respect
to their sponsored athletes, and not the IOC.
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