People who posted malicious content online during FIFA tournaments are being investigated by law enforcement.
FIFA said on the 16th (Korean time) that it has reported more than 30,000 harmful posts identified this year on social media to the respective platforms.
FIFA referred 11 people who posted harmful content to law enforcement. The perpetrators were detected in Argentina, Brazil, France, Poland, Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States and other countries. FIFA said, "They defamed players, coaches and referees online during FIFA tournaments."
FIFA president Gianni Infantino said, "Football must be a safe space for everyone both on and off the pitch. We must protect an environment where anyone can participate in football."
FIFA is operating the social media protection service (SMPS) to protect its members. President Infantino emphasized, "SMPS is a system that combines technology and manpower. We continue to take measures to protect players, coaches, teams and referees from online attacks."
SMPS was launched in 2022 together with the International Federation of Professional Footballers. Its purpose is to detect, remove or report harmful posts.
FIFA said, "Recently, during the Club World Cup held in the United States, SMPS tracked 2,401 accounts active across five platforms. It analyzed a total of 5.9 million posts. It classified 179,517 posts for review. It reported 20,587 posts to the relevant platforms."
President Infantino has taken a firm stance on online attacks. He said, "There is no place for violence in football. We will hold perpetrators accountable in cooperation with member associations, confederations and law enforcement," and added, "We are already implementing measures to exclude individuals who have been problematic from the list authorized to purchase tickets for FIFA competitions."
FIFA said, "Since SMPS was launched, the number of reported harmful posts has exceeded 65,000."
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