AI found more than 300 authors of offensive posts against World Cup football players, their data will be handed over to law enforcement

A project using artificial intelligence to track social media abuse targeting 2022 FIFA World Cup players has identified more than 300 people whose data is being shared with law enforcement. This is reported by ESPN with a link to FIFA.

The corresponding project was created jointly by the Federation and the World Players’ Union FIFPRO. According to the project’s report, people were found to have posted offensive, discriminatory or threatening posts or comments on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube. The biggest spike in abuse occurred during the France-England quarter-final.

“Violence and threat became more extreme as the tournament progressed with players’ families increasingly referenced and many threatened if players returned to a particular country – either the nation they represent or where they play football,” the report said.

As part of the project, about 20 million posts and comments were scanned, of which more than 19,000 were marked as offensive. More than 13,000 of these were forwarded to Twitter for action.

According to FIFA, 38% of detected offensive messages were sent from European accounts, and 36% from South America.

“The figures and findings in this report do not come as a surprise, but they are still massively concerning,” said David Aganzo, president of Netherlands-based FIFPRO.

FIFA and FIFPRO have extended the system for use at the Women’s World Cup, which kicks off next month in Australia and New Zealand.

We remind you that on December 18 the final took place of the 2022 FIFA World Cup. The Argentinian national team defeated the French national team on post-match penalties with a score of 4:2. The main time ended with the score 2:2. Additional – 3:3. Goals were scored by Lionel Messi (one from play, one from penalty), Angel Di Maria and Kylian Mbappe (one from play, two from penalty).