FIFA World Cup 2026: FIFA flags 89,000 abusive posts during group stage, 13-fold rise from 2022 edition

The sharp rise came after FIFA's Social Media Protection Service (SMPS) analysed more than six million posts and comments--up 33% from the 2022 edition--with racial abuse accounting for 11% of all offensive content detected.

The proportion of racially motivated abuse increased by 3% compared to the group stage of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, with FIFA describing it as a "significant increase in the objectively worst and most offensive content" circulating on social media platforms.

"Available to all teams, players, coaches and match officials participating at FIFA tournaments, SMPS protects them and their followers from experiencing discriminatory and offensive content," FIFA said in a statement, as per Reuters.

The SMPS combines advanced technology with human moderation to identify, filter and block racist, discriminatory and threatening messages, while also shielding players' followers from abusive content.

FIFA said 225,000 social media posts were flagged for human review, with moderators confirming 89,000 as abusive and taking appropriate action. Around 1,000 accounts were also escalated for further investigation.

The governing body added that the expanded 48-team format, up from 32 teams at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, contributed to the increased volume of content analysed.

FIFA's automated moderation system also concealed around 181,000 hateful comments from team accounts. In total, more than two million comments--including spam and content generated by bots or fake accounts--were moderated during the group stage, representing a fourfold increase compared to the 2022 tournament.

"As part of the evolution of SMPS, the service also collates evidence for law enforcement. Over 100 examples have been identified which pass the legal thresholds for preparing legal case files against them," FIFA said. (ANI)