A damning new report by Hope Not Hate has exposed how X’s algorithms actively amplified racist abuse directed at England men’s football team players during the 2026 World Cup, with the platform’s recommendation system distributing the hateful content across millions of user feeds.
The charity organisation analysed more than 300,000 X posts circulated during the tournament and identified over 5,500 explicitly racist messages targeting England footballers. The findings paint a troubling picture of how social media platforms’ engagement-driven systems can weaponise hate speech at scale during major sporting events.
Algorithm-Driven Amplification
According to the report, X’s engagement-focused algorithms didn’t simply allow the racist content to exist—they actively promoted it. Rather than remaining isolated, the abusive posts were pushed to the centre of user feeds, reaching exponentially wider audiences than organic sharing would naturally allow. Senior Researcher Patrik Hermansson was blunt in his assessment of the platform’s role: “X is actually benefiting from this hate,” he said.
The racist abuse targeted multiple England stars, including midfielder Jude Bellingham, winger Bukayo Saka, midfielder Kobbie Mainoo, and defender Djed Spence, among others. Each player became a focal point for coordinated harassment that the platform’s systems helped propagate.
FA Response and Regulatory Calls
The Football Association responded to the findings by urging social media platforms to establish safer online environments for players. The report itself calls for regulators to intervene, suggesting that voluntary industry measures have proven insufficient in combating algorithmic amplification of hate speech.
Hope Not Hate’s analysis demonstrates that the problem extends beyond individual bad actors posting abusive content—it implicates the fundamental design of social platforms that prioritise engagement metrics above user safety and the wellbeing of public figures.