Fifa Releases Report on Abusive Social Media Posts
According to a report released by Fifa, almost 20,000 abusive social media posts were directed at players, coaches, and officials during last year’s World Cup. The posts were identified from a pool of 20 million posts scanned by moderation software developed by Fifa and the players’ union Fifpro. As a result, 286,895 posts were hidden from public view.
The report found that the most significant increase in abuse followed England’s quarter-final loss to France when Harry Kane missed a penalty. David Aganzo, Fifpro president, noted that while the findings were not surprising, they were “massively concerning” and emphasized the need for preventative measures and solutions for players experiencing this type of abuse.
According to the report, more than 300 individuals have been identified for their involvement in the abusive posts, and their details will be shared with authorities to facilitate real-world action. The report further revealed that 38% of the identifiable abuse came from accounts based in Europe and 36% from South America.
In response to the widespread abuse, Fifa and Fifpro implemented a plan last year to protect players, coaches, and officials from social media abuse during international tournaments. They established the Social Media Protection Service (SMPS), which flagged and reported abusive, discriminatory, or threatening posts and comments to relevant social media platforms. During the World Cup in Qatar, 19,636 posts were confirmed as abusive by the service provider, and many of them were removed.
The report also provided a breakdown of the nature of the abusive messages. Of the detected abusive messages, sexism accounted for 13.47%, homophobia 12.16%, and racism 10.70%. The report criticized social media companies for their inadequate responses to the abuse, noting many blind spots, particularly outside of English language content. It highlighted a high volume of targeted individual racism, with more than 300 players targeted, and some high-profile players receiving a significant portion of targeted abuse across the competition. The report also noted the prolific nature of homophobia, with the response of platforms blurred by cultural differences.
Twitter was identified as the platform with the highest number of abusive messages reported at 13,105, followed by Instagram (5,370), Facebook (979), YouTube (113), and TikTok (69).
The report found that France had the highest number of abusive messages when grouped by country, followed by Brazil and England. The upcoming Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand will also feature support from SMPS, and Fifa has established a confidential web-based whistleblowing system to allow people to report abuse.
Fifa president Gianni Infantino expressed Fifa’s commitment to protecting football, especially players and fans. However, he also urged authorities and social media platforms to take responsibility and support Fifa in combating all forms of discrimination.
