FIFA president Gianni Infantino has promised to take action against people abusing players, managers and referees with more than 30,000 posts already flagged
FIFA president Gianni Infantino has promised strong action ahead of the World Cup after shock new online abuse figures were released.
Incredibly, more than 30,000 abusive posts have been flagged already this calendar to FIFA’s Social Media Protection Service. That has led to 11 individuals reported to law enforcement authorities for the most severe cases and there are also bans from stadiums and on ticket purchases against other offenders.
One case has been referred to Interpol and the 11 most serious cases includes at least one offender from the United Kingdom. The new FIFA set-up coincides with the International Day for Tolerance and is designed to crack down on players, managers and referees suffering abuse
Since the launch of the SMPS in 2022, more than 65,000 abusive posts have been reported to social media platforms for review and removal, including over 30,000 since the start of this year.
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Infantino said: “On the International Day for Tolerance, I want to make it abundantly clear that football must be a safe and inclusive space – on the pitch, in the stands and online.
“Through the FIFA Social Media Protection Service and by deploying advanced technology and human expertise, FIFA is taking decisive action to protect players, coaches, teams, and match officials from the serious harm that online abuse causes.
“Our message is clear: abuse has no place in our game, and we will continue to work with our Member Associations, the confederations and law enforcement authorities to hold offenders accountable.
“This behaviour has no place in football or in society and FIFA is taking all possible steps by reporting these incidents and also by blacklisting individuals from purchasing tickets for FIFA tournaments.”
The shock figures include 20,587 abusive posts from the Club World Cup alone which were reported to the relevant platforms.
FIFA Social Media Protection Service does the following:
- Monitors for abusive or hateful content directed at players, coaches, teams and match officials
- Reports and helps remove harmful content from platforms
- Escalates the most egregious abuse for law enforcement action
- Filters and blocks abusive messages before they reach the intended recipient
- Collects data to support disciplinary action and improve safeguarding against online hate in the long term
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