FIFA reveals cases of online offenses against players and charges social media platform

FIFA and Fifpro, the union of football players, revealed this Sunday a report that points to several cases of online offenses against athletes, mainly during the 2022 World Cup, held in Qatar. On this United Nations International Day to Combat Hate Speech, the two entities called for the collaboration of social media platforms to reduce these cases.

According to the report, 19,636 posts or comments with content considered offensive, discriminatory or threatening were made during last year’s World Cup. This number was collected by the Social Media Protection Service (SMPS), FIFA’s new tool to search for offensive content on social media.

The tool scanned more than 20 million posts and comments on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube during the World Cup. And it relied on the use of artificial intelligence to identify offensive posts.

According to the same report, 74% of the offenses identified came from countries in Europe and South America. And the game with the highest number of offensive posts was between England and France, in the quarterfinals. And nearly 290,000 comments were automatically hidden from users on these platforms.

“Discrimination is a crime. With the help of this tool, we are identifying the perpetrators and reporting them to the authorities so that they are punished for their actions,” said FIFA president Gianni Infantino, who charged the social media platforms. “We also expect social media platforms to accept their responsibility and support us in the fight against all forms of discrimination. Our position is clear: we say no to discrimination.”

Fifpro’s chief executive, David Aganzo, joined the chorus by calling for greater responsibility on the part of social networks “Fifpro and FIFA will continue their collaboration to establish the same service at the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. But we don’t we can do this alone. We need all stakeholders to play their part if we are to create a better and safer environment for football.”

PUNISHMENTS

According to FIFA, the offensive posts were reported to the platforms for “breaching community guidelines”. The entity also stated that the complaints had an effect and many posts were deleted after its intervention.

“More than 300 people who made offensive, discriminatory or threatening posts and/or comments during the tournament have been demonstrably identified and this information will be shared with the relevant member associations and legal authorities in their respective jurisdictions to enable action to be taken against offenders in the real world,” FIFA said.