Online Abuse Plagues USWNT at Women's World Cup
A report released by FIFA and FIFPRO reveals that players at the Women's World Cup were 29% more likely to receive online abuse compared to the men's tournament. One in five players received targeted discriminatory, abusive, or threatening messages, with almost 50% of the abusive messages being homophobic, sexual, and sexist. The FIFA Social Media Protection Service (SMPS) analyzed 5.1 million posts and comments in 35 different languages, reporting and hiding over 400,000 abusive comments. FIFPRO president David Aganzo emphasized the need for football to protect players in the toxic online environment, which affects their mental health and wellbeing.