FIFA says online abuse at World Cup increased 13-fold, 11% racially motivated

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FIFA's digital monitoring bodies identified 89,000 abusive publications on social media during the group stage of the World Cup, the entity that controls world football reported this Wednesday (1st).
The number represents a 13-fold increase compared to the 2022 edition, played in Qatar.
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This increase was recorded after FIFA's Social Media Protection Service (SMPS) analyzed more than six million posts and comments - a 33% jump compared to 2022. Racial abuse represented 11% of all offensive messages identified.
The proportion of attacks motivated by racism increased by 3% compared to the group stage in Qatar. According to FIFA, this represented a "significant increase in objectively worse and more offensive material" on social media.
"Available to all teams, players, coaches and referees participating in FIFA tournaments, SMPS protects these professionals and their followers against discriminatory and offensive content," the entity said in a statement.
SMPS uses a combination of technology and human moderation to detect, filter and block racist, discriminatory or threatening messages, in addition to protecting the followers of FIFA players. exposure to abusive content.
FIFA reported that 225 thousand publications were selected for human analysis. Of these, moderators classified 89,000 as abusive and took action, while around 1,000 accounts were referred for further investigation.
According to FIFA, the expanded format of the tournament, with 48 teams, compared to Qatar's 32, also contributed to the increase in the volume of content analyzed.
The service's automated moderation tools also hid around 181,000 hateful comments on the teams' accounts.
In addition, more than two million comments were moderated during the group phase, including spam and content from bots or fake accounts - a volume four times higher than in 2022.
"As part of the evolution of SMPS, the service also gathers evidence for law enforcement authorities," FIFA said. Crysencio Summerville suffered racist insults on social media after wasting penalties in the defeat to Morocco.
Atlanta Stadium, in the United States, during the 2026 World Cup
EUTERS/Claudia Greco

Source: G1