News

FIFA Will Use AI To Protect Footballers From Hate Speech

The new tool will look for recognized hate speech terms on social media platforms and prevent comments that contain them from reaching their intended recipients.

Published

4 years ago

June 22, 2022

David Morelo

fifa will use ai to protect professional footballers from hate speech

Qatar Supreme Committee For Delivery & Legacy

The FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar is scheduled to take place in five months, and football fans around the world are already looking forward to the spectacle. Unfortunately, not all fans express their excitement or disappointment nicely.

According to FIFA’s recently published report, which examined over 406,987 social posts across Twitter and Instagram targeting players and coaches for the EURO 2020 Final (England versus Italy) and AFCON 2022 Final (Senegal versus Egypt), 55 percent of players in both tournament finals received some form of online abuse.

The two most common types of online abuse were homophobic slurs and racism, with a majority of abusers coming from the player’s home nation.

Determined to protect players from the abuse they receive online, FIFA has partnered with FIFPRO, a worldwide representative organization for professional footballers, to launch AI-powered in-tournament moderation tools.

“Our duty is to protect football, and that starts with the players who bring so much joy and happiness to all of us by their exploits on the field of play,” said FIFA President Gianni Infantino. “We want our actions to speak louder than our words and that is why we are taking concrete measures to tackle the problem directly.”

Also Read: How To Permanently Delete Your Instagram Account

The new tool will look for recognized hate speech terms on social media websites and prevent comments that contain them from reaching their intended recipients and their following, minimizing their reach. FIFA could also report abuse to the relevant social networks and contact law enforcement authorities to further investigate.

“This detection is not only there to protect football and to avoid the damaging effects that these posts can cause, but also to educate current and future generations who engage with our sport on social media as well as on the field of play,” added the FIFA President.

The role of artificial intelligence in the detection of hate speech is growing rapidly. In the first quarter of 2020, Facebook, estimated that AI proactively detected 88.8 percent of the hate speech content the social network removed, an increase of 8.6 percent compared with the quarter before that.

Related Topics:Artificial Intelligence FIFA Qatar

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Syria Just Got Its First Super App Featuring Built-In Digital Payments

Built by UAE-based Syrian founders with the Ministry of Tourism’s backing, My Syria lands as visitor numbers more than double.

Published

5 days ago

August 1, 2026

Nour Nasir

syria just got its first super app featuring built-in digital payments

For most of the past decade, paying for anything in Syria with an international card was effectively impossible. Sanctions, a collapsed banking sector, and years of isolation left the country running on cash. That is what makes the launch of My Syria — the country’s first super app — more than a routine product announcement.

Developed by 121 Living, a company founded by four UAE-based Syrian entrepreneurs — Rami Kaiem, Feras Kaiem, Waseem Qudmani, and Kinan Madi — the app launched in Damascus on July 30 under the patronage of Minister of Tourism Mazen Al-Salhani. It bundles hotels, restaurants, transport, attractions, food delivery, and other lifestyle services into a single platform, currently offering eight services with plans to expand to more than 40 verified tourism and hospitality providers across the country.

Although the app already sounds enticing, the headline feature is its built-in payments. My Syria is the first platform in Syria to support cross-border digital payments through Apple Pay, Google Pay, Visa, Mastercard, and American Express — familiar tools for international visitors, and a route into the digital economy for local businesses that have long operated outside it.

my syria super app launch event

The launch rides on a sharp rebound for the troubled country. Syria’s tourism sector recorded 3.52 million visitor arrivals in the first half of 2026, a 111 percent increase over the 1.67 million during the same period in 2025 — a mix of returning expatriates, regional visitors, and international tourists.

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The Ministry of Tourism, which supported and supervised the app’s development, frames the launch as proof of concept for a wider strategy. “Digital transformation is one of the Ministry’s strategic priorities because it enables us to build a more competitive, connected and investment-ready tourism sector,” Al-Salhani said, inviting technology companies “globally, regionally and locally” to explore opportunities across the wider economy.

For 121 Living, this is phase one, with additional services and expanded geographic coverage planned. Whether a super app can flourish in a market still rebuilding its infrastructure is an open question, but for the first time in years, a visitor to Damascus can pay for dinner with their phone.