By Andy Hunter
Publication Date: 2026-06-05 16:00:00
FIFA will expand the use of AI at the World Cup to reduce the amount of abusive messages teams and players are exposed to on social media.
World football’s governing body has launched a social media protection service following the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, offering its moderation component free to all football associations at the 2026 tournament, which begins next Thursday. The Football Association has not confirmed whether it will accept the offer.
More and more Premier League clubs are using AI to hide racist, homophobic and misogynistic content from players on their social media channels. Tottenham, which condemned “abhorrent, dehumanizing racism” against defender Kevin Danso after his mistake against Brighton last season, is among them.
The technology filters offensive and insulting comments from 30,000 keywords across teams and players’ social media channels and hides them in less than two seconds. The person who sent the abuse can still see their post, but…
