South Korea national team head coach Hong Myung-bo listens to a reporter's question on June 26. [Yonhap]
South Korea national team head coach Hong Myung-bo listens to a reporter's question on June 26. [Yonhap]

Abusive posts and comments targeting players and other participants on social media during the 2026 FIFA World Cup in North and Central America have surged 14-fold compared with the Qatar tournament four years ago.

FIFA said it detected and removed more than 7 million potentially harmful posts targeting tournament participants through its Social Media Protection Service (SMPS) during the North and Central America World Cup, according to Reuters and other outlets Saturday.

FIFA operates the SMPS to protect players, teams and officials from online threats and abusive content. Some 470,000 harmful posts were removed during the 2022 Qatar World Cup, but the number jumped this time as participating nations expanded from 32 to 48 and total matches grew from 64 to 104.


andy@heraldcorp.com