Former footballer and start-up co-founder Gilberto Silva is optimistic that artificial intelligence can help make social media a more civil place for football fans and players, especially through his company's app.
“This is more than just a project for us, it’s more than just building a company,” he said of Striver, which bills itself as the world’s first abuse-free social media platform.
“We want to help the dialogue and the conversation. We want to stop the abusive comments and the abusive messages,” he said, referring to the racist, xenophobic and abusive comments that have been hurled at players on social media platforms.
Mr Silva, who was in Brazil’s 2002 World Cup-winning team and played for English Premier League club Arsenal and Greek club Panathinaikos, has been on the receiving end of racist comments from fans during his career.
“It was quite challenging for me to deal with,” he said, adding that social media has sometimes made the problem worse.
Striver, which was launched in November at Qatar’s Web Summit, seeks to create a respectful space for football fans and allows photos and videos to be posted, along with interaction with current and former football players who use the platform.
The app, available on iPhone and Android platforms, resembles the interfaces currently used by TikTok and Instagram.
The app has 40 ambassadors, which consist of current and former players, as well as content creators, said Striver chief executive and co-founder Tim Chase. Former Brazilian player Roberto Carlos is also a co-founder.
Mr Chase said Striver uses AI to stop hateful content getting on to the platform, rather than relying on users to flag such comments before they are taken down.
“We use AI not to remove hateful content, we use it to stop it from ever getting on the platform,” he said. “We’re able to moderate all the content before it goes live.”
The Striver app was developed by Monstarlab, a Japan-based digital consultancy which says its AI-based moderation is powered by Amazon web services such as Rekognition, Comprehend, Transcribe and Elemental MediaConvert.
“These services are designed to identify and eliminate harmful video and text content … it guarantees a wholesome community experience, promoting respectful exchanges and maintaining an environment free from abuse,” Monstarlab said.
Although rare, Striver’s unique implementation of AI has caused occasional “false positive” flags for content that was not offensive, Mr Chase admitted.
“One of the videos, for instance, had an advertisement far in the background which had the words, ‘diablo’, which is Spanish for devil … but that advertisement was 200 feet away and had nothing to do with the video,” he said, adding that the content was eventually allowed on the platform.
“It’s 99.9 per cent effective,” he said, adding that the newest version of the app tells users why content is flagged, and gives the option to challenge the decision with a Striver staff member.
Football fans and players have helped social media platforms grow by leaps and bounds, and in turn, boosted their own brands.
On Instagram, operated by Meta, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have more than a billion followers combined.
The sheer number of users on various platforms has made human content moderation difficult, prompting attempts by platforms to use AI and other methods to ensure a safe environment.
Efforts by companies including Meta and TikTok have been met with relative success, but are far from perfect.
Shortly after Elon Musk purchased X (formerly known as Twitter) in 2022, the platform removed many human content moderators, a move that was met with criticism and concern.
“I'm not going to pick a fight with Elon Musk, he has a couple more pounds on me,” joked Mr Chase. “He seems to love a fight.”
He declined to say how many users the football-based platform has, but expressed confidence that its AI approach to content moderation and preventing abuse was superior to others.
He also clarified what he felt were misconceptions about Striver's approach.
“You can be negative, but you can't be abusive,” Mr Chase said. “We can't stop negativity because that's freedom of speech, but if we can take away user fears about being abused, ridiculed or shamed, then we're making a place where there's true conversations happening.”
Mr Chase cited LinkedIn, the work-based social network, which surpassed one billion users in 2023.
“It's all about the community, and the community on LinkedIn is professional,” he said, referencing the civil atmosphere he'd like to build on Striver.
Striver is in early stages of trying to grow the platform, Mr Chase said, adding that it would like to eventually do advertising and brand deals to raise revenue. There are no plans to charge users for using the app, he said.
“We're going to be very selective about the brands we work with,” he said. Brands associated with gambling, tobacco or alcohol would be avoided.
“Everything at Striver is designed to be in the best interest of the users,” Mr Chase said.
While the app is currently focused on football, Mr Chase didn't rule out having different iterations for other sports, such as cricket and basketball, in the future.
“We've been approached by some cricketers and I've been told they get far more online abuse than footballers,” he said.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
What the law says
Micro-retirement is not a recognised concept or employment status under Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations (as amended) (UAE Labour Law). As such, it reflects a voluntary work-life balance practice, rather than a recognised legal employment category, according to Dilini Loku, senior associate for law firm Gateley Middle East.
“Some companies may offer formal sabbatical policies or career break programmes; however, beyond such arrangements, there is no automatic right or statutory entitlement to extended breaks,” she explains.
“Any leave taken beyond statutory entitlements, such as annual leave, is typically regarded as unpaid leave in accordance with Article 33 of the UAE Labour Law. While employees may legally take unpaid leave, such requests are subject to the employer’s discretion and require approval.”
If an employee resigns to pursue micro-retirement, the employment contract is terminated, and the employer is under no legal obligation to rehire the employee in the future unless specific contractual agreements are in place (such as return-to-work arrangements), which are generally uncommon, Ms Loku adds.
Dhadak 2
Director: Shazia Iqbal
Starring: Siddhant Chaturvedi, Triptii Dimri
Rating: 1/5
APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)
Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits
Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
Storage: 128/256/512GB
Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4
Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps
Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID
Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight
In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter
Price: From Dh2,099
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Our legal advisor
Ahmad El Sayed is Senior Associate at Charles Russell Speechlys, a law firm headquartered in London with offices in the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Hong Kong.
Experience: Commercial litigator who has assisted clients with overseas judgments before UAE courts. His specialties are cases related to banking, real estate, shareholder disputes, company liquidations and criminal matters as well as employment related litigation.
Education: Sagesse University, Beirut, Lebanon, in 2005.
In numbers
1,000 tonnes of waste collected daily:
- 800 tonnes converted into alternative fuel
- 150 tonnes to landfill
- 50 tonnes sold as scrap metal
800 tonnes of RDF replaces 500 tonnes of coal
Two conveyor lines treat more than 350,000 tonnes of waste per year
25 staff on site
23-man shortlist for next six Hall of Fame inductees
Tony Adams, David Beckham, Dennis Bergkamp, Sol Campbell, Eric Cantona, Andrew Cole, Ashley Cole, Didier Drogba, Les Ferdinand, Rio Ferdinand, Robbie Fowler, Steven Gerrard, Roy Keane, Frank Lampard, Matt Le Tissier, Michael Owen, Peter Schmeichel, Paul Scholes, John Terry, Robin van Persie, Nemanja Vidic, Patrick Viera, Ian Wright.
500 People from Gaza enter France
115 Special programme for artists
25 Evacuation of injured and sick
Spare
Profile
Company name: Spare
Started: March 2018
Co-founders: Dalal Alrayes and Saurabh Shah
Based: UAE
Sector: FinTech
Investment: Own savings. Going for first round of fund-raising in March 2019
What drives subscription retailing?
Once the domain of newspaper home deliveries, subscription model retailing has combined with e-commerce to permeate myriad products and services.
The concept has grown tremendously around the world and is forecast to thrive further, according to UnivDatos Market Insights’ report on recent and predicted trends in the sector.
The global subscription e-commerce market was valued at $13.2 billion (Dh48.5bn) in 2018. It is forecast to touch $478.2bn in 2025, and include the entertainment, fitness, food, cosmetics, baby care and fashion sectors.
The report says subscription-based services currently constitute “a small trend within e-commerce”. The US hosts almost 70 per cent of recurring plan firms, including leaders Dollar Shave Club, Hello Fresh and Netflix. Walmart and Sephora are among longer established retailers entering the space.
UnivDatos cites younger and affluent urbanites as prime subscription targets, with women currently the largest share of end-users.
That’s expected to remain unchanged until 2025, when women will represent a $246.6bn market share, owing to increasing numbers of start-ups targeting women.
Personal care and beauty occupy the largest chunk of the worldwide subscription e-commerce market, with changing lifestyles, work schedules, customisation and convenience among the chief future drivers.
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Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
Thor: Ragnarok
Dir: Taika Waititi
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Cate Blanchett, Jeff Goldblum, Mark Ruffalo, Tessa Thompson
Four stars
'The Batman'
Stars:Robert Pattinson
Director:Matt Reeves
Rating: 5/5
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
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ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
SQUADS
UAE
Mohammed Naveed (captain), Mohamed Usman (vice-captain), Ashfaq Ahmed, Chirag Suri, Shaiman Anwar, Mohammed Boota, Ghulam Shabber, Imran Haider, Tahir Mughal, Amir Hayat, Zahoor Khan, Qadeer Ahmed, Fahad Nawaz, Abdul Shakoor, Sultan Ahmed, CP Rizwan
Nepal
Paras Khadka (captain), Gyanendra Malla, Dipendra Singh Airee, Pradeep Airee, Binod Bhandari, Avinash Bohara, Sundeep Jora, Sompal Kami, Karan KC, Rohit Paudel, Sandeep Lamichhane, Lalit Rajbanshi, Basant Regmi, Pawan Sarraf, Bhim Sharki, Aarif Sheikh
Maestro
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The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
THE SPECS
Engine: Four-cylinder 2.5-litre
Transmission: Seven-speed auto
Power: 165hp
Torque: 241Nm
Price: Dh99,900 to Dh134,000
On sale: now
Read more about the coronavirus
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
A State of Passion
Directors: Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi
Stars: Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah
Rating: 4/5
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
