FIFA says it has stepped up efforts against online abuse

PARIS:  FIFA said on Sunday it had stepped up efforts to tackle online abuse directed at players and officials, reporting a surge in harmful content and referring more offenders to police.

Marking the International Day for Tolerance, FIFA said its Social Media Protection Service (SMPS) had flagged more than 30,000 abusive posts to platforms since the start of the year, part of more than 65,000 escalated since the tool was launched in 2022.

Eleven individuals in Argentina, Brazil, France, Poland, Spain, Britain and the United States have been reported to law-enforcement authorities in 2025 for abuse during FIFA competitions, with one case referred to Interpol.

The relevant national associations were alerted to allow follow-up action at local level.

FIFA said it was also blacklisting people identified as responsible for “highly abusive behaviour”, preventing them from purchasing tickets for future FIFA tournaments or events.

The SMPS has been deployed at several competitions this year, including the inaugural 32-team Club World Cup in the United States.

During that tournament, the service monitored 2,401 active accounts across five platforms, analysed 5.9 million posts, flagged 179,517 for review and reported 20,587 to the platforms.

“Football must be a safe and inclusive space – on the pitch, in the stands and online,” FIFA president Gianni Infantino said.

“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.”

The SMPS uses a mix of technology and human moderation to detect, filter and block racist, discriminatory or threatening messages, while protecting players’ followers from exposure to abusive content.