FIFA has revealed that its Social Media Protection Service has identified and acted on more than 388,000 harmful comments since June 11, when the 2026 FIFA World Cup commenced, highlighting the persistent challenge of online abuse targeting players, teams, and officials during the tournament.
The football governing body said on its official X handle on Thursday that it had reviewed over 250 million comments and posts since the service was launched, of which 30 million harmful comments were identified and removed. It also said it had reviewed over 3.8 million comments and posts related to the ongoing World Cup, identifying 388,000 harmful comments, surpassing the 287,000 removed throughout the entire 2022 tournament.
The SMPS uses AI-driven monitoring to automatically detect and hide abusive content, including discriminatory, threatening, or hateful remarks, from the public feeds of protected accounts, preventing players and their followers from exposure while enabling FIFA to take further action against offenders. The service, developed in partnership with players’ union FIFPRO, was first introduced at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and has since been expanded.
FIFA described the initiative as a key step in stopping hate and protecting football, allowing participants to focus on the game without the psychological toll of online harassment.
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