FIFA’s digital watchdogs uncovered 89,000 abusive posts on social media during the World Cup group stage, marking a 13-fold increase from the 2022 edition in Qatar.
Online Abuse on the Rise
The alarming spike was recorded after FIFA’s Social Media Protection Service (SMPS) scanned over six million posts and comments — a 33% jump from 2022 — with racial abuse accounting for 11% of all detected offensive messages.
The SMPS uses a mix of technology and human moderation to detect, filter and block racist, discriminatory or threatening messages, while also protecting players’ followers from exposure to abusive content.
Netherlands players Justin Kluivert, Quinten Timber and Crysencio Summerville suffered racist abuse online after missing penalty kicks in the shootout defeat by Morocco in the last 32.
Original reporting: Appleton, WI News Feed (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
