FIFA says its Social Media Protection Service (SMPS) has identified more than seven million potentially abusive or harmful social media posts targeting players, coaches, match officials and other participants during the ongoing FIFA World Cup.
According to the global football governing body, the volume of detected abusive content is 14 times higher than that recorded during the 2022 tournament, when approximately 470,000 offensive posts were identified and removed.
The organization said its moderation system, which combines artificial intelligence with human review, has examined over 500,000 messages flagged by automated detection tools as potentially targeting players, coaches and match officials.
FIFA added that more than 1,000 messages containing threats have been referred to relevant authorities, including law enforcement agencies, for further action.
Since the start of the tournament, the Social Media Protection Service has monitored and moderated more than 53 million social media posts and comments across supported platforms as part of efforts to reduce online abuse directed at participants.
The initiative is designed to help protect players, teams, coaches and match officials from harassment, discrimination and other forms of online abuse throughout FIFA competitions.
Earlier in the tournament, FIFA disclosed that racist content accounted for about 11 per cent of the offensive messages detected by its monitoring system.
The World Cup concludes on Sunday with the final between Argentina and Spain.
