World Cup players get protection from social media abuse

A file photo of people gathered around the official countdown clock showing remaining time until the kick-off of the World Cup 2022, in Doha, Qatar. The World Cup starts on Nov 20, just days after Twitter fired a swath of contractors working on content moderation teams that were tracking hate and trying to enforce rules against harmful posts. — AP

DOHA, Qatar: Fifa and the global football players union have launched a moderation service aimed at protecting World Cup players from abuse on social media during the tournament.

Fifa said on Nov 16 that the more than 830 players in Qatar can access a “dedicated monitoring, reporting and moderation service” that aims to filter hate speech targeted at them.