Overview

• A dedicated hotline for student-athletes launched Tuesday to report abuse or harassment tied to Venmo activity.
• Venmo will monitor social media trends and athlete accounts for spikes after game events, with illicit behavior escalated to law enforcement.
• The company will provide account-security education and a best-practices guide to help athletes manage privacy and safety.
• NCAA leaders urged other platforms to adopt similar protections as research links nearly 20% of athlete-directed online abuse to sports betting.
• The effort comes as PayPal expands on campuses with conference-branded debit cards and Big Ten and Big 12 agreements enabling schools to pay athletes through its platform.