World Cup teams unite with anti-hate speech exchange

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The eight teams in action on Thursday all marked the International Day for Countering Hate Speech, with captains exchanging pennants before kick-off in a coordinated stand against abusive language.

Captains in the Czechia/South Africa, Mexico/South Korea, Switzerland/Bosnia-Herzegovina and Canada/Qatar fixtures carried pennants reading ‘We Play Together. We Stand Against Hate’ with the message in English on one side and each team’s native language on the other. Further stadium activations were planned across the day.

Behind the symbolism sits a hard number. FIFA says it has deleted more than 30 million abusive posts and comments since launching its social media protection service before the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. The tool scans players’ public accounts and hides or removes abuse before they see it.

But the more striking figure is how fast the problem is scaling. FIFA says it has already removed nearly 400,000 negative or abusive posts in the opening days of this tournament, which is more than it took down across the entire 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Qatar 2022 ran for 64 matches, yet a 48-team, 104-match edition spread across the United States, Canada, and Mexico has surpassed its full-tournament total in less than a week. The expanded format, the wider time zones, and the larger English-speaking audience have all widened the online battleground.
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