Fifa will proactively monitor the social media accounts of all players at the World Cup and report any abusive messages.
Football’s governing body is making the move, along with players’ union Fifpro, with the aim of “protecting both players and their fans from online abuse during the tournament”.
All players at the World Cup will have access to a dedicated monitoring, reporting and moderation service to help minimise visibility of hate speech aimed at them.
Abusive, discriminatory and threatening messages will be reported to the social media platforms and police.
England forwards Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka were subjected to online abuse after the Euro 2020 final defeat by Italy. Twitter said it removed 1,622 abusive tweets after that final and police arrested 11 people in the UK in relation to the abusive social media messages.
Fifa president Gianni Infantino said: “We are happy to launch a service that will help to protect players from the damaging effects that social media posts can cause to their mental health and well-being.”
“It is football’s responsibility to protect the players and other affected groups against the abuse they increasingly face in and around their workplace,” added Fifpro president David Aganzo.
“This type of abuse has a profound impact on their personalities, their families, performance, as well as on their overall well-being and mental health.”
