FIFA: 30K-Plus Abusive Posts Caught On Social Media Platforms In 2025
Monday, November 17, 2025 at 07:44PM By Barry Janoff
November 17, 2025: Stating that “football must be a safe and inclusive space — on the pitch, in the stands and online,” FIFA said it has recorded more than 30,000 abusive posts on social media platforms this year through the FIFA Social Media Protection Service, and that it has reported to law enforcement authorities and blacklisted individuals responsible for highly abusive behavior from ticket purchase.
The news comes with the FIFA Men’s World Cup arriving in 2026 and the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2027.
“I want to make it abundantly clear that football must be a safe and inclusive space — on the pitch, in the stands and online,” FIFA president Gianni Infantino said via the organization.
“Through the FIFA Social Media Protection Service and by deploying advanced technology and human expertise, FIFA is taking decisive action to protect players, coaches, teams, and match officials from the serious harm that online abuse causes.”
As part of its efforts in this area, FIFA said it has enhanced its Social Media Protection Service, which is available to all players, teams and officials at FIFA tournaments, as well as to FIFA Member Associations, year round.
Since the launch of the Social Media Protection Service in 2022, FIFA said more than 65,000 abusive posts have been reported to social media platforms for review and removal, including the 30,000 since the start of this year.
FIFA said its Social Media Protection Service is “designed to protect individuals from online abuse, particularly racist, discriminatory or threatening messages that may be sent during major competitions. It also stops the account holders’ followers from being exposed to abusive, discriminatory and threatening posts, thereby preventing the normalization of these kinds of actions.”
The Social Media Protection Service has been implemented at a number of competitions this year, including the inaugural FIFA Club World Cup.
“The service ensured that all 32 teams, which featured players of 72 nationalities, involved in the global showpiece on American soil were protected by proactive monitoring that detected and reported any violent, threatening or discriminatory content,” according to FIFA.
During the tournament, FIFA said the Social Media Protection Service monitored 2,401 active accounts across five social media platforms covering players, coaches, teams and match officials participating at the tournament. Nearly six million posts were analyzed, 179,517 flagged for review and 20,587 reported to the relevant platforms.
“Our message is clear: abuse has no place in our game, and we will continue to work with our Member Associations, the confederations and law enforcement authorities to hold offenders accountable” said Infantino.
“This behavior has no place in football or in society and FIFA is taking all possible steps by reporting these incidents and also by blacklisting individuals from purchasing tickets for FIFA tournaments.”
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