Major international sporting events are increasingly being exploited to spread antisemitic conspiracy theories online, with the 2026 FIFA World Cup serving as the latest vehicle for claims that Jews secretly control global institutions and even Argentina star Lionel Messi, according to new research by Israeli non-profit CyberWell.
The Tel Aviv-based organisation, which works with Meta, TikTok and YouTube to identify and report online antisemitism, said it alerted social media platforms during the final week of June after uncovering dozens of posts in English, Arabic, and French that used the World Cup to promote anti-Jewish narratives.
Among the most prominent themes were false claims that Jews control FIFA, governments, the media and world events, alongside repeated references to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the notorious antisemitic forgery that has fuelled conspiracy theories for more than a century.
Following Argentina’s victory over Algeria, CyberWell found posts falsely claiming that Messi is Jewish, controlled by Jews, or benefiting from alleged Jewish influence over FIFA and the World Cup.
Messi, widely regarded as one of the world’s greatest players, has visited Israel several times, including with FC Barcelona in 2013.
Many of the posts shared images of the star at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, suggesting they proved he was a beneficiary of malign Zionist or Jewish influence
“The World Cup commands a global stage of billions, and that visibility is exploited by those seeking to spread antisemitic conspiracy theories,” CyberWell founder and CEO Tal-Or Cohen Montemayor said.
“The targeting of Lionel Messi, the invocation of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and claims that Jews control FIFA all rely on the same idea: that Jewish people are the secret master manipulators of the world.
"When these narratives are repeatedly amplified on digital platforms, they reinforce this corrosive conspiracy theory as mainstream conversation, normalising antisemitism and making the centuries-old hatred appear acceptable.”
Old slurs, new arena
CyberWell said it identified dozens of Arabic-language posts during the tournament’s opening week that invoked the Protocols of the Elders of Zion while discussing the World Cup. The posts alleged that Jews use sports and entertainment to distract the public from world events and manipulate global opinion.
According to the report, many of the posts relied on indirect references rather than explicitly mentioning Jews, quoting passages from the fabricated text while implying Jewish responsibility for global conflicts, including the war in Gaza.
The organisation described the trend as “event-driven antisemitism,” in which major cultural, political, and sporting events are used to amplify existing hate narratives.
CyberWell noted that it documented similar conspiracy theories during the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, suggesting the pattern has become a recurring feature of global sporting events.
Challenges for content moderation
After identifying the content, CyberWell submitted reports to social media companies that included historical context, analysis of the antisemitic narratives, and information intended to assist moderators in enforcing platform policies.
Cohen Montemayor said many of the posts would likely escape automated moderation systems because they rely on coded language and historical references rather than explicit anti-Jewish slurs.
“This is precisely why contextual and historical expertise matters for effective content moderation and Trust and Safety enforcement,” she said.
“Many of these posts do not explicitly mention Jews. Instead, they invoke antisemitic conspiracy theories through indirect references, for example by using the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a source used in the context of the World Cup to reinforce historically anti-Jewish narratives in the digital space.”
As technology companies increasingly rely on artificial intelligence to police online content, she warned that human expertise in regional languages, culture and the evolution of hate speech remains essential.
“Effective moderation requires more than technology alone,” Cohen Montemayor said. “Platforms must combine their enforcement capabilities with the linguistic, cultural, and subject-matter expertise needed to identify emerging threats before they become normalised.”
CyberWell is an independent non-profit that uses artificial intelligence and human analysts to monitor antisemitic content in English and Arabic.
Using the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism, the organisation reports violating content to platforms and maintains what it says is the world’s first open database of verified antisemitic social media posts.
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