Is it possible to use the world’s biggest event to address — and counter — hate speech?
FIFA feels it is.
To mark the International Day for Countering Hate Speech, FIFA, TikTok and City of Atlanta convened an elite group of players, policymakers, technology experts and community leaders at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights for an event, titled ‘Stop hate, protect football — What actually works against hate speech?’
The goal is to move past standard awareness raising to explore concrete interventions against discrimination, racism, and abuse – both on and off the pitch.
George Weah, who won the Ballon d’Or in 1995 as the global player of the year (while representing Liberia) and whose son, Timothy, is on the current U.S. national team, outlined the challenges the game faces.
He recognized the effort moves slowly, if at all.
“If I look back, I would say that nothing has changed,” he said. “I experienced racial abuse when racism was at its peak; but we are still here talking about it today. Football is not just a game of chance, it’s a game of unity.
“There are a lot of elements which want to destroy the game. Football is a game of peace, a game of unity. What we are trying to do here, with FIFA and [FIFA President] Gianni Infantino, we are doing at the right time. If we allow these things to slide down, the beautiful game will be destroyed.
“And that’s why we are fighting, we are trying to educate young people so they grow into loving people, not just people who love the game. Discrimination has no place our society.”
The panel also included former Nigerian international Mercy Akide; Candace Stanciel, Chief Impact Officer for the City of Atlanta; Eric Ebenstein, Senior Director of Public Policy at TikTok Global; and David Gerson, U.S. Soccer Certified Referee and Mentor, from Refs Need Love Too.
The group examined how hateful rhetoric manifests today in football and society, before focusing on three operational pillars: decoding the evolving nature of digital and physical hate speech, identifying high-impact interventions, and translating institutional commitments into measurable outcomes.
To be sure, FIFA has been slow to react to abuse in the past. Failing to take a stance on LGBTQ issues in Qatar certainly was noted.
But it must equally be noted that FIFA is working to use its global power for good.
I served as the moderator of an event at William Paterson, detailing FIFA’s ‘No Discrimination’ initiative.
That was the spring of 2024. Today, a central focal point of the event was the FIFA Social Media Protection Service, which FIFA uses to monitor and intercept online abuse in real-time to protect players, teams and officials.
Since its inception, the SMPS has delivered significant protective coverage across FIFA’s global tournaments and events. Over 250 million comments and posts have been reviewed, with over 30 million of them having been identified as harmful.
Throughout the ongoing FIFA World Cup 2026, the service remains actively deployed, providing a proactive digital shield for all tournament participants. Since the tournament began on June 11, over 3.8 million comments and posts have been reviewed, with 388,000 of those removed, after being identified as harmful.
By comparison, throughout the entirety of the FIFA World Cup 2022, only 287,000 posts and comments were removed.
The Atlanta forum aligns with FIFA’s broader Global Stand Against Racism — a comprehensive framework dedicated to systemic change through grassroots education, fan engagement, and localized resource toolkits for football associations worldwide.
Akide said she hopes it’s another step in the right direction.
“There’s no [better] time to do it than this time,” she said. “It made me empowered just to hear what the community – like it’s a community – we must bring everybody, include everybody to do this.
“Just listening to the panel, it makes me want to do more now.”
