December 12, (THEWILL) – FIFA revealed in a report on Monday that around 20% of players were subjected to online abuse during the 2023 Women’s World Cup held in Australia and New Zealand earlier this year. The world football governing body utilised its Social Media Protection Service (SMPS), to analyse content and hide abusive comments across various platforms.
Launched originally at the 2022 Men’s World Cup in Qatar, the SMPS uses artificial technology to monitor posts in 35 languages across sites like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Over the course of the Women’s World Cup, it assessed over 5 million total posts and comments for harmful content and protected 697 players and coaches actively utilising 2,111 accounts.
Disturbingly, female players at this year’s tournament were 29% more likely to receive online abuse compared to their male counterparts last year. More than 150 players alone obtained targeted discriminatory, threatening, or otherwise abusive messages. Approximately half contained homophobic, sexual, or sexist attacks according to FIFA’s data.
The tool ultimately hid nearly 117,000 posts deemed as junk, spam, discriminatory, abusive, or threatening. Two teams – the United States and Argentina – made up significant targets, as did the Final where over 6,500 comments were removed. “There can be no place on social media for those who abuse or threaten anyone, be that in FIFA tournaments or elsewhere,” remarked FIFA President Gianni Infantino.
FIFPRO President David Aganzo added, “This toxic online environment is a risky place to be in for players and it affects their mental health and wellbeing. Football has a responsibility to protect the players around their workspace.” The SMPS was also utilised at November’s Under-17 World Cup and will continue being implemented for future FIFA events.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
