World Cup 2026: Concerning increase in racist social media posts
FIFA's social media protection service has identified a 13-fold increase in racist abuse online during the 2026 World Cup group stage.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 4.0 / Author: Zakarie Faibis
The 2026 World Cup has seen a significant rise in the most serious examples of online racist abuse. FIFA's social media protection service (SMPS) reported that 89,000 abusive posts were identified during the tournament's group stage.
This figure marks a 13-fold increase compared to the 2022 tournament, where 6,700 such comments were found. While the current tournament includes 72 matches compared to 48 in Qatar, the SMPS warned that data trends indicate a concerning direction of travel regarding racially aggravated abuse. Racism accounted for 11% of all online abuse, a 3% rise from four years ago.
The service noted an increase in objectively offensive material, with over 100 examples meeting legal thresholds for case file preparation. Over six million posts and comments were scanned during the period, resulting in 225,000 items being flagged for human review and the hiding of 181,000 hateful comments.
Players from the Netherlands were among those targeted after their last-32 penalty shootout defeat to Morocco. The Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) confirmed that Justin Kluivert, Quinten Timber, and Crysencio Summerville were subjected to discriminatory, racist, and hateful comments on social media platforms.