Huge rise in harmful social media posts this World Cup

The 2026 World Cup began on 11 June and concludes with the final on Sunday, 19 July [Getty Images]There have been 14 times more harmful posts and comments during the 2026 World Cup compared to the 2022 tournament, Fifa's social media protection service has found.A total of more than seven million messages have been identified and removed this summer.That is a significant increase from 470,000 such posts and comments at the previous World Cup.Fifa has also reported more than 200,000 abusive and t