FIFA World Cup sees sharp rise in online racist abuse

Social media has witnessed a significant increase in racist and hateful abuse directed at players during the 2026 FIFA World Cup, according to a new report by FIFA.

FIFA’s Social Media Protection Service reported that more than 89,000 abusive posts and comments were recorded during the tournament’s group stage nearly 13 times higher than during the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

The report stated that 11% of all online abuse was racist in nature, an increase of 3 percentage points compared to the previous World Cup. While FIFA noted that improved monitoring systems have made it easier to detect abusive content, the findings also highlight a worrying rise in racially motivated online attacks.

According to FIFA, more than 100 incidents identified during the tournament could potentially lead to legal action.

The organization analyzed over six million social media posts and comments, with around 225,000 flagged for human review. Of those, approximately 181,000 hateful comments were removed.

Notably, after the Netherlands’ penalty shootout defeat to Morocco, Dutch players Justin Kluivert, Quinten Timber and Crysencio Summerville were subjected to racist and discriminatory abuse on social media.