The International Football Federation (FIFA) revealed today, Monday, that "one in five players was targeted by online abuse during the Women's World Cup 2023, while a range of social media protection tools hidden approximately 117,000 comments." It explained that "about 5.1 million posts and comments were analyzed across 35 different languages for any abusive content, leading to the protection of 697 players and coaches actively using 2,111 accounts on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X (formerly Twitter), and YouTube."
FIFA added that "homophobic abuse, sexual abuse, and gender-based discrimination made up nearly 50% of the discovered abusive messages, and 116,800 comments were hidden on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube as spam, discriminatory, abusive, or threatening messages." More than 150 players received discriminatory, abusive, or threatening messages during the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, with the USA and Argentina teams being the most targeted.
In June, FIFA stated that "the social media protection service developed in collaboration with the International Players' Association and launched at the 2022 Men's World Cup was implemented at the Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand." This tool, which has been used in eight FIFA tournaments over the past 12 months, monitors hate messages on social media and hides abusive content from players.
FIFA's report showed that players in this year's Women's World Cup were 29% more likely to be targeted online compared to players in last year's Men's World Cup in Qatar.
