According to data from FIFA’s Social Media Protection Service (SMPS), published this weekend by FIFA and the Argentine press, Messi and his teammates lead the national teams most targeted by hateful messages on social media during the 2026 World Cup.
Furthermore, England, Spain, Brazil and Norway are also among the most targeted teams.
This data release comes on the eve of World Mental Health Day.
Allegations of referee favoritism have been one of the main drivers of attacks against the Albiceleste. Some internet users blamed FIFA, the referees and the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) for granting preferential treatment to the Argentine team. Xenophobic remarks also accompanied these accusations.
The report covers the period from June 9 to July 20, 2026. The SMPS reviewed more than 17.1 million posts and comments on social media. After an initial automated screening, 477,000 items were subjected to human review. Of these, 240,000 were identified as abusive.
However, Argentine footballers are less targeted!
The ranking changes when the analysis focuses on individual players. Argentine players occupy fourth place among the most-targeted squads, behind those of France, England and Portugal, according to data reported by Infobae.
Racism accounted for a substantial portion of individual attacks. One player, whose identity was not disclosed in the report, received more than 10,000 verified abusive messages. About 40% of these contents were racist. He was also the target of homophobic, sexist and transphobic insults.
Across the tournament as a whole, racist content accounted for 20% of abuses categorized as discriminatory, excluding general insults. This proportion was 11% during the group stage. Threats of violence accounted for 14% of recorded cases and xenophobic attacks for 12%.
Officials particularly exposed to threats
The referees and other officials suffered a significant share of the most serious attacks. Suspicions of corruption and match-fixing notably fueled messages directed at them. Some were also victims of doxxing attempts, a practice involving revealing personal information to facilitate harassment.
To counter these abuses, FIFA mobilized its automated moderation system on its official platforms and the channels of participating federations. The tool analyzed 60.7 million messages and blocked 9.2 million before they were publicly disseminated, i.e., 15% of the interactions examined by this system.
The judicial aspect of the report notes 2,905 accounts that could be subjected to criminal investigation. FIFA forwarded 786 of them to police authorities for review. Among these accounts, 232 contained particularly serious and threatening content likely to pose a real risk to safety.
FIFA also emphasizes that online abuse can affect the psychological well-being of players, coaches, referees and their families.
