FIFA deletes 7 million hate comments during 2026 World Cup, 14 times more than in Qatar
FIFA's anti-hate service has removed more than 7 million abusive posts during the 2026 World Cup in North America, a 14-fold jump from the 2022 tournament, as the final between Spain and Argentina approaches.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup has seen an explosion of online hate, with the governing body removing more than 7 million abusive posts and comments since the tournament began. The figure, released two days before the final between Spain and Argentina, is 14 times higher than the 470,000 deleted during the 2022 men's World Cup in Qatar, even after accounting for the shorter 2022 schedule that had 40 fewer matches.
Scale of the abuse
FIFA's Social Media Protection Service (SMPS), introduced after the Qatar tournament, moderated 53 million comments across the event. Of those, over 200,000 were reported as insulting or intimidating and actioned, a tenfold increase on the 2022 figure. The service is available to all participating teams, coaches, players and officials.
More than 7 million potentially harmful posts and comments have been removed.
AI-driven moderation
Artificial intelligence played a central role in triaging the flood of messages. More than 500,000 posts directed at players, coaches and officials were reviewed by automated systems. Over 15,000 of those were forwarded for further human assessment, while more than 1,000 particularly serious threats were escalated to law enforcement and other authorities.
More than half a million detected messages to players, coaches and officials were checked and evaluated.
Final under the spotlight
The final between Spain and Argentina kicks off on Sunday at 21:00 CEST at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. FIFA expects another surge in abusive content around the match, mirroring the spikes seen after high-profile knockout games earlier in the tournament.
- 2022 Deleted
- 470000 comments
- 2026 Deleted
- 7000000 comments
- 2022 Reported
- 20000 comments
- 2026 Reported
- 200000 comments
A persistent problem
Despite the SMPS operating at every FIFA event since 2022, the volume of hate speech has grown dramatically. The 2026 tournament, expanded to 48 teams and spread across the United States, Canada and Mexico, has provided a larger stage and a larger digital footprint. FIFA's data shows that the problem is not shrinking, even with automated tools and closer cooperation with social media platforms.
