As the countdown continues for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, social media giant Meta is increasing the security measures on its platforms. The parent company of applications such as Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, which has billions of users, is implementing a comprehensive action plan before the tournament with the aim of combating fraud, reducing abusive use, and increasing the safety of athletes and fans. The company accepts that global activities create a great opportunity for fraudsters; It announces that it has established special teams and activated artificial intelligence-based proactive systems to prevent many illegal activities, from fake ticket sales to negative travel and visa offers.

Artificial Intelligence and Private Groups are at Work: Meta is establishing private security teams to instantly monitor fraud networks that want to abuse the 2026 FIFA World Cup tournament and accounts that violate the principles.

Push Notifications on Facebook: To prevent users from falling victim to fake tickets and fraud, new push notifications that warn verifiable sources in ticket searches and tournament sets are being introduced.

Zero Tolerance Against Hate Speech: The company explains that in order to protect athletes and fans, it removed 2.6 million hateful posts in the last quarter of 2025 alone, and detected more than 74 percent of them without users reporting it.

Instant Measures Against Fake Tickets and Travel Fraud

Major sports tournaments whet the appetite of cybercriminals who target fans who have difficulty finding tickets. In order to prevent this situation, Meta is launching a new redirection system in in-platform search engines and community clusters. Effective today, users who search for tournament tickets on Facebook or visit relevant clusters are warned with push notifications not to make purchases other than official and verifiable sources.

These notifications not only contain a warning text; It directs individuals who encounter a suspicious account, advertisement or post directly to Meta’s complaint and reporting tools. In this way, the spread of malicious content is minimized with the participation of users.

Global Cross-Sector Collaborations

Stating that advanced fraud networks cannot be prevented by the efforts of only one company, Meta acts in coordination with non-governmental organizations and public institutions. Partnerships are being established with official institutions in Canada and Mexico, the countries hosting the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Thanks to joint work carried out with strong structures such as the Canadian Anti-Fraud Center (CAFC), Stand Against Scams and the Mexican Consumer Protection Agency (PROFECO), it is aimed to help fans distinguish fake websites and protect them from phishing methods frequently used during the tournament period. Sezen Yeşil, Meta Turkey and Azerbaijan Public Policies Manager, said in her statement on the subject that fraudsters are always improving their formulas and that they continue to invest in advanced detection tools with law enforcement and civil society stakeholders in order to prevent these dangers.

Digital Shield for Athletes and Fans: Fighting Cyberbullying

Security measures are not limited to financial frauds. Racism, cyberbullying, harassment and hate speech targeting athletes, technical teams and passionate fan groups who are under pressure on and off the field are also under Meta’s lens. The company states that all content that violates community rules is cleared from the platforms as soon as it is detected.

Advanced algorithms and proactive artificial intelligence technologies catch most of the harmful content in the air without the need for user complaints. According to the new data shared by the company, a total of 2.6 million hateful posts were deleted on Facebook and Instagram between October and December 2025. What is remarkable is that more than 74 percent of these contents have now been eliminated by the system’s own proactive scanners, without being reported by any user.

Meta promises to stay in close contact with global sports federations, clubs and athletes during and after the tournament and to update its cyber shield tools in line with the feedback received.