FIFA: Abusive World Cup social media posts 13 times higher than 2022

FIFA has revealed a dramatic surge in online abuse during the 2026 World Cup, with abusive social media posts occurring 13 times more frequently than in the 2022 tournament. This spike was identified after FIFA's social media protection program analyzed over six million posts and comments related to the World Cup, representing a 33% increase in volume from 2022.

The program utilized an artificial intelligence tool that flagged 225,000 posts and comments for human review. Of these, 89,000 were classified as abusive, and FIFA noted that 11% of these abusive posts were racially motivated. In stark contrast, only 6,700 abusive comments were identified during the 2022 World Cup.

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collates evidence for law enforcement, with over 100 examples having been identified which pass the legal thresholds for preparing legal case files against them from the 2026 group stage.

FIFA stated that the social media scanning program "collates evidence for law enforcement." Over 100 examples from the 2026 group stage alone have met the legal thresholds for preparing case files against individuals. The organization also identified 1,000 accounts for further investigation and successfully hid 181,000 hateful comments from public view.

The report comes as the Netherlands' football association, KNVB, condemned racist and discriminatory abuse directed at players who missed penalties in their team's elimination from the tournament. The KNVB stated, "We draw a clear line against such behaviour. Racism and discrimination have no place in football, online, or in our society." FIFA introduced the "No Racism Gesture" for the 2026 World Cup, allowing players targeted by racist abuse to signal the referee, who can then decide to stop or suspend the match.

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We have seen the online reactions in which players have been subjected to racist and discriminatory abuse following the team’s elimination. We draw a clear line against such behaviour. Racism and discrimination have no place in football, online, or in our society.