DOHA, Qatar (AP) — FIFA and the global soccer players union have launched a moderation service aimed at protecting the World Cup. Abuse players on social media during the tournament.
FIFA said on Wednesday that the more than 830 players in Qatar can access a “dedicated monitoring, reporting and moderation service” that aims to filter hate speech directed at them.
The World Cup kicks off on Sunday, just days after Twitter laid off a slew of contractors. working on content moderation teams that were tracking hate and trying to enforce the rules against harmful posts.
Twitter was not mentioned in the FIFA press release providing details of the project, which was first announced in June and is being carried out in conjunction with the FIFPRO players’ union.
“Teams, players and other individual participants will also be able to opt into a moderation service that will instantly hide abusive and offensive comments on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, preventing the recipient and their followers from seeing them,” World Football said. said the body.
The project will monitor the social media accounts of all World Cup participants and report discrimination and threats “to social media and legal authorities so they can take real-world action against those who break the rules,” FIFA said. .
The extent of hate speech directed at soccer players was detailed by FIFA in June from an investigation carried out the previous year at later stages of the European Championship and the African Cup of Nations.
He said half of all those players received some form of discriminatory abuse and most of them from their home country. FIFA said then that “homophobic and racist comments accounted for almost 80% of abuses.”
Spanish striker Álvaro Morata received death threats online after missing a great chance against Poland during last year’s European Championship.
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