FIFA has removed 388,000 social media posts containing hate speech since the 2026 World Cup kicked off across the United States, Mexico and Canada on 11 June, the federation announced. A total of 3.8 million posts were reviewed in that period. By comparison, 287,000 posts were deleted across the entirety of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
FIFA also noted that over 250 million comments and posts have been reviewed across its broader monitoring efforts, with more than 30 million identified as harmful.
The announcement came at an event held in Atlanta, where FIFA, TikTok and the City of Atlanta convened players, policymakers, technology experts and community leaders at the National Centre for Civil and Human Rights to mark the International Day for Countering Hate Speech. The panel discussion centred on practical measures to counter hate speech in football and wider society. It was held on the eve of the World Cup group-stage match between Czechia and South Africa at Atlanta Stadium.
The event closed with a formal commitment ceremony in which panellists pledged specific local actions, reinforcing the idea that eliminating hate speech requires collective effort at every level of the game.
