Since the opening day of the World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico on 11 June, world football governing body FIFA has removed around 388,000 hateful comments on social media. Around 3.8 million posts were scrutinised.
FIFA is actively campaigning against online hate and has therefore stepped up its efforts to combat it ahead of this World Cup. During the previous World Cup in Qatar in 2022, around 287,000 hateful comments were removed throughout the tournament.
The organisation has been tackling online hate as a priority since that World Cup. In total, more than 250 million comments have been assessed since then, of which around 30 million were deemed "harmful".
A panel of prominent FIFA figures met on Wednesday in Atlanta (Georgia) to put a stop to the proliferation of hate speech on social media.
Among those present were former Ballon d’Or winner George Weah, former Nigerian international Mercy Akide and David Gerson, an American referee and founder of the “Refs Need Love Too” movement.
“Looking back, nothing has changed,” said Weah in a statement. “I experienced racist abuse when racism was at its peak. But we’re still talking about it today. And that’s why we’re fighting; we’re trying to educate young people so that they grow up to be empathetic individuals, not just people who love the sport. There is no place for discrimination in our society.”
