With the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar just five months away, the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) is working on a plan to protect participating teams, players, officials, and supporters from abuse on social media.
It is not a secret that footballers across the globe are at the frontlines when it comes to receiving a barrage of critical opinions from social media users hiding behind the screens of their phones.
The criticism more than often takes a dark turn when basic human morality is kept aside and social media becomes a platform to spew hatred at players along racial, homophobic, ableist and Islamophobic lines among others.
Coinciding with the United Nations International Day for Countering Hate Speech (June 18), FIFA published an independent study highlighting the increasing degree of abuse directed at footballers across social media platforms during international tournaments.
The findings are nothing short of staggering as millions watch ‘the beautiful game’.
“Our duty is to protect football, and that starts with the players who bring so much joy and happiness to all of us by their exploits on the field of play,” said FIFA President Gianni Infantino in a statement. “Unfortunately, there is a trend developing where a percentage of posts on social media channels directed towards players, coaches, match officials and the teams themselves is not acceptable, and this form of discrimination – like any form of discrimination – has no place in football.”
This study examined over 406,987 social posts across Twitter and Instagram targeting players and coaches for the EURO 2020 Final (England v Italy) and AFCON 2022 Final (Senegal v Egypt). The study period ran from the end of the semi-finals until 3 days after each final.
Both these tournament finals which went down to penalties, infamously saw massive backlash against players for their performance in the match, especially if the player missed a penalty.
The aftermath of the EURO 2020 final highlighted rampant racism within English football when the three Black players – Jadon Sancho, Marcus Rashford and Bukayo Saka missed their penalties in the shoot-out resulting in the Italians taking home the trophy.
The same was the case with the AFCON final between Egypt and Senegal, the players that missed the penalties in the shoot-out were singled out and criticised along racist and homophobic lines.
The study compares these two high profile finals to determine that players competing in tournaments are being targeted regardless of continent or country.
More than half the players (55%) suffered online abuse
The study revealed 514 abusive posts targeting players. The EURO 2020 Final accounted for 365 abusive posts, whilst the AFCON Final accounted for 149.
Whilst each tournament exhibited different primary abuse categories, racism and homophobia were the two most prevalent forms of abuse present across the tournaments representing a combined 78% of all detected abuse on Twitter and Instagram.
Homophobic comments (40%) were slightly more than racist comments (38%).
Over 78% of the abuse targeting players around the EURO 2020 Final contained racist abuse. The AFCON Final attracted lower rates of specifically racist abuse (26%). However, players experienced much higher levels of homophobic abuse (62%).
Italian players were also targeted
The primary abuse was directed by fans opposed to Italy’s victory. Italy’s now former player and captain Giorgio Chiellini who has been nicknamed ‘Gorilla’ was also subject to anglicised slurs with users typing Gorilla emojis in the racial context.
Owning to club rivalries, there was also violent and discriminatory abuse targeted at players from fans of their domestic clubs overseas. But, much abuse came from fans of the players’ home nations.
Homophobic abuses and other threats not dealt with as efficiently as racism-related issues
Different types of abuse are treated contrastingly as racism is the only universal issue on which platforms can be clearly evidenced to take action.
At the EURO 2020 Final, majority of racist abuse directed at black England players during and in the wake of the final were removed from platforms (despite some notable exceptions still live at the time of reporting), but much of the homophobic abuse from the same tournament remains live over 8 months later.
38 per cent of the abuse was from the United Kingdom
In both tournaments the origin of abusive accounts followed the same pattern with a majority of abuse coming from the home nation of the players being targeted.
Abuse came in from all over the globe significant percentages from Middle Eastern, Asian and African countries.
Abuse from outside the home nations of the players being targeted seems to be linked to interest in domestic football leagues, particularly those in the UK and Europe which enjoy global viewership.
How is FIFA going to tackle this?
FIFA and FIFPRO (worldwide representative organisation for professional footballers) in a statement, said that they will launch a dedicated in-tournament moderation service across men’s and women’s football that will scan recognised hate speech terms published to identified social media accounts, and once detected, prevent that comment from being seen by the recipient and their followers. Although the offending message remains visible to the person who originally made the comment, its visibility and reach will be significantly reduced.
Infantino said, “With the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and FIFA World Cup Australia and New Zealand 2023 are on the horizon, FIFA and FIFPRO recognise it is important to make a stand and to include what is monitored on social media with what is already being monitored in the stadiums.”
“This collaboration recognises football’s responsibility to protect the players and other affected groups against the abuse they increasingly face in and around their workplace. 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,” said FIFPRO President David Aganzo.
Best practice and advice for managing social media accounts, and mental health advice for all participating players at FIFA tournaments during 2022 and 2023 will be available.
With the most-viewed tournament on the planet approaching fast, there is a dire need to provide all the teams, players, officials, and supporters a way to escape from the onslaught of the abuse rampant on social media so that ‘the beautiful game’ can be watched the way it was supposed to – like an Equal Game.
