England's World Cup quarter final with France saw the biggest spike in online abuse in the whole tournament.
World governing body FIFA have released startling new figures after the Qatar World Cup to coincide with the United Nations International Day for Countering Hate Speech.
It is part of their major crackdown online abuse as they used new technology to scan over 20 million posts and comments on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube throughout the tournament.
It revealed 19,636 posts and comments to be abusive, discriminatory, or threatening with the largest number coming from Europe which was responsible for 38 per cent of the hateful posts.
The crackdown - which used special Social Media Protection Service technology - was able to identify and stop 286,895 comments from being shared and appearing on public view.
And the biggest spike after any particular game was England’s match with France which is revealing and potentially worrying for the English game.
Incredibly, there were over 12,000 reported and moderated posts after the quarter final on December 10 last year.
More than 300 individuals have been identified after posting abuse through the tournament and have now been reported to the relevant authorities and could face prosecution.
Three Lions trio Bukayo Saka, Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford were all subjected to racist abuse online after missing penalties in the Euro 2020 final when England lost to Italy in a shoot-out.
FIFA has joined forces with FIFPRO – the worldwide representative organisation for professional footballers – to coordinate and implement a plan on how to protect participating teams, players, officials and supporters from abuse on social media during its international tournaments.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino met with Real Madrid ’s Brazil star Vinicius Junior this week after he endured racist abuse during the La Liga season to discuss how they could implement new ideas to clampdown on the issue.
Infantino said: “FIFA’s position in relation to discrimination is clear: There is no place for any form of discrimination in football or in society.
“The report highlights that discriminatory posts on social media are happening around our tournaments, such as the FIFA World Cup, and FIFA is committed to taking the necessary steps to tackle this through reporting and removal mechanisms that exist through the social media protection service.
“Through our Statutes, FIFA has a duty to protect football, in particular the players and the fans, and that is why the social media protection service remains in place for the duration of the FIFA Women’s World Cup and beyond.
“However, FIFA also expects all authorities and social media platforms also accept their responsibilities and to support us in the fight against all forms of discrimination.”
