As the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) operates an artificial intelligence (AI)-based social media monitoring system to protect players, online abusive posts targeting players at the 2026 North and Central America World Cup surged 13 times compared with the 2022 Qatar World Cup. The share of racist posts also increased from the previous tournament.

An anti-racism message displays on the screen before the Group I World Cup match between Norway and Senegal at East Rutherford Stadium in New York, United States, on the 22nd last month (local time). This photo is unrelated to the article content. /Courtesy of AP·Yonhap News

On the 1st (local time), Reuters reported that FIFA analyzed more than 6 million social media (SNS) posts and comments during this World Cup group stage. That is a 33% increase from the 2022 Qatar World Cup.

FIFA is monitoring online hate speech targeting players, coaches and referees through the Social Media Protection Service (SMPS), which combines AI and specialists. AI first flags suspicious posts, and then humans review them.

However, the reality is that tougher monitoring and responses using AI alone make it hard to stop the spread of online hate. About 225,000 posts at this World Cup were classified by AI for review. Of these, 89,000 were confirmed as actual abusive posts, 13 times more than at the 2022 Qatar World Cup.

This year's World Cup expanded participating nations from 32 to 48, sharply increasing both the number of matches and online posts. Even accounting for that, malicious posts on social media are growing. In particular, racist posts make up 11% of abusive content. That is up 3 percentage points (p) from the 2022 Qatar World Cup. In fact, Netherlands national team players Justin Kluivert, Quinten Timber and Crysencio Summerville were subjected to racist attacks on social media after missing their penalties in the shootout against Morocco.

FIFA said it is moderating more than 2 million comments and, through its AI system, automatically hid some 181,000 hateful comments posted on players' personal accounts. It also referred about 1,000 malicious accounts identified during the tournament for further investigation. Of these, for more than 100 cases deemed to require legal action, it plans to cooperate with investigative authorities in each country.

※ This article has been translated by AI. Share your feedback here.