FIFA and the global football players union have launched a moderation service aimed at protecting World Cup players from abuse on social media during the tournament.
FIFA said Wednesday that the more than 830 players in Qatar can access a “dedicated monitoring, reporting and moderation service” that aims to filter hate speech targeted at them.
The World Cup starts on November 20, just days after Twitter fired a swath of contractors working on content moderation teams that were tracking hate and trying to enforce rules against harmful posts.
“Teams, players and other individual participants will also be able to opt-in to a moderation service that will instantly hide abusive and offensive comments on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, preventing them from being seen by the recipient and their followers,” football's world body said.
The project will monitor social media accounts of all World Cup participants and report discrimination and threats “to social networks and law authorities for real-world action against those who break rules,” FIFA said.
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