Report: Algorithms amplified racist abuse against England players during World Cup
Campaign group Hope Not Hate says X's algorithm boosted the visibility of racist posts targeting England footballers during the 2026 World Cup, and is urging regulator Ofcom to act more forcefully.
A new report from campaign group Hope Not Hate claims that racist abuse directed at England footballers on social media was amplified during the 2026 World Cup by algorithms built to maximise user engagement and platform profit.
Researchers examined more than 300,000 posts on X (formerly Twitter) and identified over 5,500 explicitly racist posts targeting England players.
Profiting from outrage
Senior researcher Patrik Hermansson said X benefits from this kind of content because posts that provoke anger tend to keep users on the platform longer, indirectly supporting advertising revenue. He noted that abusive posts were not confined to obscure corners of the site but appeared prominently in users' recommended feeds.
Hermansson argued that current countermeasures — blocking, reporting and account suspensions — only address content after it has already spread, rather than tackling how it gets amplified in the first place. He said platforms already possess the technical means to adjust recommendation systems, for instance by downranking posts that attract disproportionate volumes of abusive replies.
Call for regulatory action
Ahead of the new Premier League season, Hope Not Hate urged the UK's media regulator, Ofcom, to make fuller use of its powers under the Online Safety Act. The group wants major sporting events designated as "high risk," which would require platforms to proactively remove abuse and rapidly downrank escalating hate campaigns.
Ofcom told BBC Sport it continues to push tech companies to improve safety and pointed to a new partnership with police and football authorities established ahead of the World Cup to combat online abuse. X has not yet responded to a request for comment.
