Striver: How Roberto Carlos and Gilberto Silva are preparing to take over social media by creating the first abuse-free app in history

Exclusive to Sky Sports: Tim Chase, the creator of Striver, and Gilberto Silva, a former midfielder for Arsenal, discuss their motivation for working together to build the first social networking platform devoid of abuse. Among Striver’s ambassadors are Sol Campbell, Roberto Carlos, and Harry Maguire.

The former IT headhunter is here to discuss his invention, the app Striver, which was unveiled to the public at Web Summit 2023 in Lisbon back in November. Striver bills itself as the world’s first abuse-free social networking platform.

That’s a tempting prospect all by itself. These days, it seems like the quantity of hatred on sites like Instagram, Facebook, and X (previously known as Twitter) greatly exceeds the amount of optimism.

However, as Chase starts to narrate Striver’s story, a childlike smile appears on his face, and it’s understandable.

“When your business partners are Gilberto Silva and Roberto Carlos, magic happens!”

The program looks a lot like TikTok, the newest big thing on social media, but obstacles are being used by the developers to entice users.

Let’s take an example where Roberto Carlos uploads the incredible, physics-defying free-kick he scored against France on Striver and allows fans to upload their own attempts at recreating it.

He can then select any of those comments by clicking the ‘Feature’ button. The user receives a notification letting him know he’s seen it, and everyone in his audience can view it and reply right away.

Gilberto, on the other hand, might publish a video on his blog inviting viewers to share their opinions on Arsenal’s prospects of winning the Premier League this year and using the comments section to display the replies.

Striver’s USP grabs attention because it says that abuse won’t appear anywhere on the platform. But how does the app support this claim?

“We feel prevention is better than cure, and we found there was AI (artificial intelligence) available to moderate content, which means we don’t even have to remove the abusive content from the platform—we actually stop it going live,” Chase says.

We examine words, phrases, sentences, and ultimately the message as a whole when evaluating comments. Remarks are not abusive; they don’t always have to be positive.

“After that, we take out the audio from videos and censor them in the same manner as comments. After that, we take screenshots of the videos every 0.3 of a second and moderate each one.

“We recently couldn’t figure out why a response to a Manchester United fan’s challenge directed against Harry Maguire outside Old Trafford was turned down. The word “diablo,” which translates to “devil,” is written on the label of a bottle of wine that is visible in the background.

“We were aware of our AI’s strength—99.9817 percent effectiveness at the moment—but we were unaware of its increasing strength. That truly thrilled me as the program’s creator.”

Future features include age-appropriate moderation and facial recognition; if you’re older than 18, a slider will allow you to choose how much foul language is displayed.

It raises the question, Why is this something no one has done before? Picture: Harry Maguire has agreed to serve as a Striver representative.

Commercially, I can see why the major platforms haven’t followed through; after all, they are, in some cases, two decades old, and this is merely the more contemporary approach.

“The rise of TikTok demonstrates that individuals are interested in participating in and replicating the actions of celebrities and influencers. However, these platforms are so focused on getting content on them that they neglect to think about the abusive stuff that may appear later.

“It is useless to take it down after an hour since the damage is already done if it gets live. On social media, bad news spreads quickly and is difficult to reverse.

It goes without saying that enlisting the help of both current and past professionals has been simple.

Harry Maguire, an England and Manchester United defender, and Sol Campbell, another former Gunner, are ambassadors in addition to Gilberto and Roberto Carlos.

With more than 130,000 Twitter followers, Papa Pincus recently registered as an official creator as well.

“Getting players on board has been pretty easy,” adds Chase, clearly proud of his work. “Both large companies and clubs are in discussions with us.

“The abuse-free stuff is the Trojan horse, and then we’re in.” Players want to interact more with fans, fans want to interact more with each other, and clubs want to interact with everyone if the upper layer of abuse is removed.

“In my opinion, all social media platforms are the same; what matters is the quantity of likes, follows, and views one receives. The only thing that differs is how the text is displayed. Ours is simply disturbing and interfering with everything.” Gilberto: I used to be afraid to leave my house. Gilberto, a father himself, says he connected with Chase’s original goal right away.

“I have the opportunity to assist in launching the initiative and encourage people to socialize in a secure environment. For me, this is a crucial element,” the Brazilian states.

We can now raise awareness by pointing out that although Striver allows you to control conversations and obtain support, it is possible for some people to have been mistreated online.

“The intention is not to silence individuals. That’s okay if I think differently about football than you do. When you start mistreating other people, you have a problem.”

Playing during a time when social media usage was still in its infancy and abuse was not as frequently reported in the media as it is now, Gilberto utilized his platform to interact with his fans, sharing information about daily life, results, and other topics.

It was mostly cordial; for the masses, finding previously unobtainable data still represented a genuine sense of novelty.

But even then, he was not beyond the hate that has, regrettably, spread widely.

“I had a knee issue following the conclusion of my deal at Atletico Mineiro in Brazil. I went to the club and asked for their help, but I got no response.

“I later brought them before the judge. I was neither proud nor pleased with this. To be honest, this was a horrible choice to make. “The result was negative reactions from the fans, which I didn’t like at all.

Numerous individuals appeared on social media and demolished me. I used to be afraid to leave my house because I thought someone would be waiting for me outside or might stop me in the street. That was a difficult period.

Without question, Gilberto is motivated by that first-hand experience. He smiles and exclaims, “I think I’m working harder than when I was playing!”

He hopes to provide contemporary players with a service that, had it been available to him, he would have been appreciative of.

“After a player has one poor game, we witness a lot of racism. Gamers are also people. What if someone came along and treated those individuals the same way because they had done something wrong at work?

“Mistakes are made by people. You can never come out on top. Gamers shouldn’t be terrified of those who are merely looking for issues.

“Striver wants everyone to feel like they are a part of this movement while also providing support.” We desire for everyone to live in a better world. Being able to support football in any way makes it extremely special.”

What does Striver think his future holds? The Series B investment round that Chase and Co. will soon begin will allow them to grow.

There are plans for development into other industries, most notably the music sector, and a resolve to eliminate bogus news, so the platform’s inevitable growth won’t be limited to football alone.

The app will ultimately include some advertising, though those ideas are still in the works.

He hopes to provide contemporary players with a service that, had it been available to him, he would have been appreciative of.

“After a player has one poor game, we witness a lot of racism. Gamers are also people. What if someone came along and treated those individuals the same way because they had done something wrong at work?

“Mistakes are made by people. You can never come out on top. Gamers shouldn’t be terrified of those who are merely looking for issues.

“Striver wants everyone to feel like they are a part of this movement while also providing support.” We desire for everyone to live in a better world. Being able to support football in any way makes it extremely special.”

The Series B investment round that Chase and Co. will soon begin will allow them to grow.

There are plans for development into other industries, most notably the music sector, and a resolve to eliminate bogus news, so the platform’s inevitable growth won’t be limited to football alone.

The app will ultimately include some advertising, though those ideas are still in the works.