2026 World Cup: 53 million posts moderated by FIFA's Social Media Protection Service ahead of the final

FIFA, through its dedicated Social Media Protection Service (SMPS), has moderated more than 53 million posts and comments during the 2026 World Cup, the body announced on 18 July, the day before the competition's final (won by Spain against Argentina, 1-0 after extra time).

Of these posts, more than 7 million were identified as "potentially harmful", a 14-fold increase on the 2022 World Cup (470,000 posts reported). "FIFA has also actioned and reported over 200,000 abusive and threatening posts and comments, compared to 19,600 at Qatar 2022," according to the international federation, which makes its service available to all teams, coaches, players and officials participating in FIFA tournaments.

89,000 abusive messages, with more than one in ten containing racist abuse, had already been…