To mark the International Day for Tolerance on 16 November, FIFA has released its figures showing how the Social Media Protection Service protects players, coaches, officials and teams against discriminatory, abusive or threatening content. Launched at the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™, the SMPS works by monitoring the public accounts of players and officials for discriminatory, abusive or threatening content and removing it in partnership with social media platforms. Individuals or representatives can also opt-in to moderation of their account which allows abusive content to be detected and hidden in real time.

Following the Paris 2024 Olympic Football Tournaments, the SMPS has now been used at 18 global competitions, the most recent including the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Colombia 2024™, the FIFA Futsal World Cup Uzbekistan 2024™ and the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup Dominican Republic 2024™. The latest figures show that, since its launch, it has protected 12,318 accounts, covering 6,367 individual players, coaches and officials from 387 cumulative participating teams who have played in 18 global and/or continental tournaments. A total of 31.2 million posts have been scanned and 6.4 million posts have been hidden, with 35,533 comments reported to the relevant platform. This level of player coverage, monitoring, reporting and overall protection is unprecedented in global sport.

"FIFA is fully committed to addressing all forms of discrimination, and we continue to invest in the Social Media Protection Service to achieve the widest possible coverage across multiple platforms," said FIFA President Gianni Infantino. "This is why access to the service is now available at all times to all 211 FIFA Member Associations, as it ensures protective measures are in place for them regardless of whether their teams qualify for FIFA tournaments or not." Part of FIFA's No Discrimination campaign, the SMPS was reinforced this year when access was extended to all 211 FIFA Member Associations so that it was available to competing teams even outside of FIFA competitions such as the UEFA EURO 2024 and the CONMEBOL Copa América 2024.

The UN General Assembly proclaimed 16 November as International Day for Tolerance in 1996, following the adoption one year earlier of a Declaration of Principles on Tolerance by UNESCO's Member States. Among other things, the declaration affirms that tolerance means respect and appreciation of the rich variety of the world's cultures, forms of expression and ways of being human, while also recognising the universal human rights and fundamental freedoms of others.