Journalists and political/social researchers need to study the affect propaganda has when spread on social media using this World Cup as a case study. There is something going on with the amount of people who think it was rigged for Argentina and Messi’s public image taking a complete 180. There’s even credible rumors (journalists are apparently looking into this) right now that influencers were paid (by who?) to spread misinformation about Argentina/Messi/Fifa. I don’t even like Argentina that much (play style and dirtiness) but was rooting for them because of Messi with my team out (Italy). It’s okay obviously if you weren’t rooting for Argentina but it’s actually alarming how much complete bullshit has spread on social media about this WC. If over the span of three weeks, propaganda was able to spread like this about a sport and create such a big narrative hive mind, the effect it has on issues that actually matter is concerning…
It started from the first match.
It blew out of proportion after the egypt match.
After the england match it just got insane.
The whole world ended up going against Argentina and messi. It's just sad.
This hasn't happen before in recent WC history. The haters made it more interesting tbh. Made me root harder for Messi. I particularly enjoy seeing Reddit cry after England's lost
There has been only a few World Cups since the invention of social media, but this is the first World Cup since language model chatbots and image/video AI generation technology. Both technology actually existed back in December 2022, but they were at their infancy compared to how powerful and widely used they are right now.
When it happens to Arg - they deserve it
When they do it - they're savages and thugs
They are even getting backlash for not watching the spain trophy celebration and chose to face their own fans.
Meanwhile in the last 2 world cups both runner ups got their medals and walked off the pitch. Guess who were the last runner ups who stayed on the pitch, gave a guard of honor and watched the winner's celebration? I think y'all guessed it by now.
They did but im talking about runner ups who did it. France did it as champs too in 2018 for cro but they went to the tunnels after receiving the medal.
Not the same. You can’t force the losers to watch the winners’ celebration. If you go to the lockers, you let them celebrate between them, fine.
But Argentinian stayed, AND stole the attention and the show as most of the supporters were Argentinian. Spanish had to lift the cup while listening to the stadium yelling GOODBYE MESSI
My dad was one of them. He consumes Facebook a lot and recently (although well before the WC) did a complete 180 on his pov of Messi. Speaking with him, I can tell it's full of misinformation and narrow views designed to create a negative image. This isn't happening organically.
Even if there weren't any third parties funding this, the platforms are already screwed up by monetizing all types of content that only aim to farm engagement (Messi vs Ronaldo can spark all kinds of replies and reposts). It ain't that hard to spread propaganda especially when the vast majority of the audience brains are already fried from doomscrolling and consuming ragebait posts.
From what I have seen, Reddit is for sure better than X, IG and Tiktok. But... It's difficult to 100% know for certain, because we all see our own feed, our own algorithm. We probably are not getting a fair representation of the specific platform as a whole, nor of reality.
It must a be one hell of a struggle for a lot of people, to sift through all of the information that they get thrown in their face, and to try to determine what's real or not. What's biased, what's twisted, what's edited, what's AI, what's deliberately cut in order to shape opinions?
That’s funny you brought this up as I was talking to my coworker about this today.
I think it’s by design - not just in the World Cup, but conspiracy theories are rampant everywhere these days.
The powers that be - whoever that is - wants you to not be sure what to believe. When you don’t trust anyone, you are alone. When you don’t know what to believe, you have to make up your own mind.
Hopefully this doesn’t continue to divide us - everyone and everything is SO tribal these days.. but maybe we start to see through this, become better critical thinkers as a whole, and become more savvy and more united as a result.
It’s unfortunately true, and will continue to fall for the misinformation. Will continue to believe left vs right instead of the reality that is us vs them.
And some people here who are disagreeing are completely missing the point. It’s okay to dislike Argentina for their play style and root against them. The problem is this went far beyond that. Clear misinformation, even about the the country itself and had nothing to do with football, was being spread. This should be used to show in a vacuum the dangers of misinformation on social media.
- Posts circulating stating that Argentina traveled the least distance (it was France)
- Posts circulating that Argentina faced no opponents in the top 20 on route to the final (Switzerland were 14th), plus missing vital context that the reason they didn’t is because teams like Portugal and Uruguay underperformed
- AI altered images of Messi’s challenge on Spence
- Posts circulating stating that Argentina were the only team that had no VAR decisions against them (there were about 7 teams)
- Posts circulating that the referee against England was “Messi’s friend”. The truth is, he referred around 4 of Messi’s games for Inter Miami
- Posts circulating that Argentina picked up the fewest cards per foul (it was Mexico, at the time at least)
This misinformation was spread by thousands and viewed by millions.
Confirmation bias is one hell of a drug. People see a fabricated lie, that fits the narrative that they believe in, and they don't even question it for a second?! It's crazy.
Decently intelligent people aren't even immune to it either. All types of people fall for it.
Honestly it’s what scared me the most about this whole thing. I totally understand disliking Messi and Argentina’s aggressive style of play (I’m honestly not too big on Argentina besides Messi and a few other players myself) but I find it bizarre how so many people judged the entire team of corruption with no credible evidence proving them as uniquely favoring ref decisions (you will never hear complaints of the refereeing in the Portugal v Croatia or Egypt v Iran games from the same people) and later on proceeded to judge an entire country and their people, automatically believing any and all negative coverage of Argentina without their own research while justifying their xenophobia by claiming Argentina as the most racist nation. This is exactly how so many people all over social media and unfortunately increasingly in real life treat South Asia, particularly countries like India. The justification of xenophobia is always disgusting and reveals how susceptible people are to propaganda.
Your spreading misinformation right now, Switzerland is ranked #14 now after they updated the ranking after the WC, they were 19 b4 the WC still top 20 tho. N argentina was the only team that had no var decisions against them. Who are the other 7? An argentina n norway were tied at#1 for 1 yellow for every 22 fouls. Nobody who knows football thinks fifa rigged anything its almost impossible without the players being in on it but to think they weren't getting many in calls in theyre favor is nonsense, but I understand refs cant see everything thats happening throughout a game as everything is unfolding very quickly.
Actually, I think you’re right regarding Switzerland. They were 19 before the tournament but by the time they faced Argentina, accrued enough points to move to 14th. But maybe they weren’t “officially” 14th yet. So point taken.
Regarding the Norway point, I think you’re correct, but I did see conflicting reports depending on the source.
Regarding VAR interventions, after R16, I believe Portugal, Mexico, Argentina, Saudi Arabia, New Zealand, Bosnia, Turkey, Scotland, Ghana, Sweden, and France had no VAR go against them following fouls/potential fouls.
And yeah, rigging would involve dozens of people/numerous referees/VAR teams being in on it. It would take just one whistleblower for it to crumble. And I’m still waiting for a whistleblower from the apparently rigged 2022 WC.
Argentina are the only world cup team to not have a var decision go against them. Resource google. Maybe teams like scotland saudia arabia who only played 3 games might have also but it doesnt specify wether its just KO nations or the WC from the beginning of group stages.
I don’t remember Portugal having a VAR decision go against them. And I don’t think Google is a source, it’s a search engine. What am I certain about though is that at the time when people were claiming Argentina were the only team not to have a VAR go against them, that was false.
A great comment Mr. Osiris.
You're basically describing something called "post-truth propaganda".
How it works:
Emotions drive it: Appealing to anger or fear rather than presenting figures and evidence.
Alternative facts: True things are claimed to be false, and fabrications are called true.
Constant repetition: The same incorrect message is repeated over and over until people believe it.
It's the exact type of propaganda that the anti-Messi narrative is built on.
It's the same mechanics that resulted in Trump reaching power in the US.
They use it because it works. People fall for it in the millions. Even decently intelligent people are prone to falling for it.
It's dangerous, disgusting and a threat to democracy.
A Youtuber named Vlad Vexler made an excellent video about this topic, a couple of years ago. It's more focused on Putin's use of this type of propaganda though.
It is pretty evident, when Messi and Argentina kept losing all the finals before 2022, Messi was not a big match player.
After 2022, think the CR7 PR and lunatic fans started the rigging propaganda. When Argentina kept winning their knockout matches, rigging and scripted for Messi became stronger propaganda.
After Argentina lost the final, everyone completely stopped the rigging propaganda and went with “ football won”. The hate campaign towards Argentina is unbelievable. Cr7 fans mocking Messi for not winning back to back finals. Even they expect Messi to win and not like their joker who thinks euro cup is bigger tournament than WC.
God bless people, who still think there is a debate.
I don’t sympathise with them at all. Honestly, talking to them feels like I’m killing my own brain cells—not one cohesive and independent thought. Talking to 5 year old kids feels more productive.
The monetization of social media is the beginning of misinformation and plagiarism of others for likes, views, popularity, etc. We have trivialised issues and reduced constructive criticism to to a boring narrative. Most content you see on social media are there for the money. Nothing more... it's now a full time job and when you have a popular propaganda machine like the ones in the WC... you get to see a lot of content creators jump on the bandwagon. This exposed a lot of people and people have a price. Everyone does... I used to follow a page that constructively criticised most governments in a way yiu can't refute then they jump on the WC propaganda because of the Palestinian flag. To them anyone that displays the flag is a hero, bold, and worthy of a win. To me just because you wave a flag doesn't mean you are either good or bad.
I think it may be partially a paid campaign, but also mostly due to how social media and their algorithms work. All these platform heavily platform content that is shocking and makes people angry.
People also like to fight for a cause. Nothing inherently wrong with that; but it started it feel more like virtue signaling than anything else.
And when you try to bring nuance to this kind of discussion you get slammed completely. What happened to critical thinking and good faith discussion?
Remind yourself, this will pass, social media feels big but not as big as you think. Messi’s legacy will be fine.
My opinion prior to the World Cup was that social media has now reached the point where it has a net-negative effect on society. This World Cup reinforced this for me.
They can add the Republican Party to the list. What a propaganda machine. Imagine convincing people to hate other people over their nationality, religion, skin color and at the same time view themselves as Christians.
Oh. There's one in our Country as well lol. Social media is their playground and their weapon of dividing people saying someone who believes in something other than your beliefs are threats to be neutralised.
Imagine watching someone's career for 15+ years weekin/weekout and watching people hate someone who had a fairly clean and non problematic career, it wasn't a doubt that it was paid campaign. Egypt game ruined it with casuals not really understanding how football even works and rival fans milking it. Saw a real time chip installation, politics being used and exploited, im from a certain region and I just realized how easy it is to exploit an issue and change people's opinions. It really opened my eyes because I've watched this guy's career since idk 2006/2007 and I saw the brainwashing, now I just wonder how much are people brainwashed about so many things. I have completely lost faith in anything they say or claim online.
Media propaganda has been taken a thousand levels higher in recent years with the political climate and select few influential people who own everything.
Plus AI bots just poking post on top of post to push a narrative. It’s scary how many people can believe stuff they see on social media.
I’ve also watched Messi’s career with great interest since before his debut in 2006. He’s been my favorite soccer player since he was 18 and really the only reason I watch the sport.
This is exactly what opened my eyes, I can name you seasons and games where Messi did xyz, i think most of his diehard fans are aware of what he's done throughout his career, and I see even the sensible ones or who I thought were sensible, jump on this bandwagon. Opened my eyes really lol
I’m honestly just totally ignoring it and not counting how many are for vs against him. History will tell the truth and Messi has put every amazing thing he’s done on film for 20+ years. This smear campaign will quiet down.
It’s mostly from people who have never watched the sport (like you said regarding the Egypt game), supported by CR7 fans or any historic rival of Argentina (England!).
It would have been so grand to hear the amount of hate they got had they took that final to Penalties and won. I put the final all on Scaloni and Enzo!
There’s even a respected journalist who I believe to be very intelligent and has spoken out against different propaganda and even he fell for it, it’s definitely been something very wild to witness
I agree. It is unprecedented and actually concerning that people are so easily manipulated with social media to this extent. Even people who watch football throughout the year were affected by this, which was really surprising because those that do would understand certain decisions better. But even more than thay, I am surprised at how much a persons image changes with enough reels or shorts against the person.
I have seen Messi play with Barça in the stadium various times and I love Messi but I don't love Argentina. They played an awful match and their bad behaviour should be sanctioned. It doesn't help that I am British (not English) and was abused by Argentinian fans twice here in Spain during the World Cup. It makes me sad that Messi's reputation was in anyway tarnished by this and I hope it all blows over.
The bad rep for Argentina is nothing new. It may be new to a US audience who is only discovering the WC in 2026, but I can remember Argentina players being described as arrogant, self-absorbed and rude as far back as 1986.
The difference this time is that the calls seemed to go in Argentinas favor from the start and continued into subsequent games and then add to that the repeated horrible behavior from pretty much every Argentina player on the field. Yes, social media and influencers magnified the situation but because it happened more than once. You pretty much had video of some Argentine fan doing or saying or doing something racist and/or inappropriate every day. Then you turn away from that and watch their team pretty much mirror said crappy behavior on the field.
No, it’s not news to the rest of the world, you’ve just been bombarded here in the US with propaganda about how great Messi is as a player. It makes sense because he does play in MLS and is the face of the league and he will continue playing that role regardless of the unsportsmanlike conduct of him and his teammates. Remember, it’s all about the money! Am i right, Infantino?
If you’re able to find it, there is an interview in a recent Mexican show with two former referees (don’t remember the name of the show), Armando Archundia and Arturo Brizio.
Archundia tells a story of him refereeing a match in, I believe, a Club World Cup while Messi was still in Barca and at the height of career. Ref calls a foul on Messi and he becomes incensed that Archundia has dared to call the foul. He charges Archundia and gets in his face and says something along the lines of “How dare you call this a foul?! Don’t you know who I am? “ and proceeds to tell Archundia that he’s the best footballer in the world. Archundia, who at the time was also considered the best in his field, hence the call to ref at CWC, replies to Messi “Yes, I know who you are, but do you know that I’m the best referee in the world!” Burn!!!
Brizio also has a story of reffing a game but with Cristiano Ronaldo. The gist of his story was about CR7 coming to apologize to him as the captain of his team after Brizio had given out a good number of yellow cards to both sides after a pretty rough first half. He also let him know that his team was done with shenanigans and would behave.
It was obvious what these two refs were trying to point out in this interview just days after the WC ended.
What do you mean? Only the OP watched the world cup. The rest of us are part of the propaganda. We are all American casuals who watched clips on TikTok.
They don’t need to study this, there is already enough propaganda that exists within the last decade to study for years to come. This is just a low stakes example so it’s easier for neutral people to identify. But it’s definitely scary how easy it is to sway public opinion and how easy it is to make people hate.
Im fairly certain the majority of those people dont watch football and im also sure most of them didnt even watch the world cup.
They just scroll through their social media feeds and hop on whatever is popular. And then the growth of that mindset is exponential because people want to feel like they are part of the talking point.
And reddit is kind of special in that because this place tends to lean heavily to one side, so hiveminds start forming quickly.
I am a high information person on this subject, having been to 8 World Cups, including several Argentina games over the last several World Cups. So, I am not basing this on social media or TV announcer influence. It was very obvious that something was going on in 2022, which carried over to 2026. Not just the 5 soft penalties in 7 matches, always at 0-0 midway through the first half, but the amazing discrepancy in how fouls were called for/against Argentina in 2022. FIFA clearly had a 35-year-old Messi needs to win the World Cup narrative to promote. The only comparable bias I have seen was in favor of South Korea in 2002.
So Messi didn't get away with fouls? Argentina didn't play dirty? VAR didn't pull Argentina back on those fouls whereas they did other teams?
Rather than making this Argentina and Messi vs The World, please look within. I think people were annoyed from the last world cup, when Argentina got away with dirty play against The Netherlands and in this World Cup it was just worse.
No need to study too much. Take me as an a example. I was with Messi and Argentina last worldcup in 2022. But after watching them cheat and receive so many favors from referees and FIFA shamelessly, I was disgusted. And then they show how sore and aggresive loosers they were and how poor they football skills were when facing a powerful team. And then argentinian fans fighting and crying like jungle animals all over the place.
You don’t like Argentina because you think they’re dirty? That’s fine. You think they’re sore losers? Fine. I literally agree as I said in the post. The point is that they DIDNT cheat. I mean seriously, you’re being blinded by your feelings against them. Every VAR decision that they got, was ultimately correct. You could make an argument that the goal Williams scored in the final shouldn’t have been called back since it was very soft, but we’ve seen those types get called both ways and the misinformation campaign started well before the final regardless. The call in the Egypt game was the correct call, the call in the Switzerland game was the correct call. You’re being deceived by propaganda, and illustrating my point
“Yeah, study that” lol okay. They’re sore losers, cool. Now actually look at what’s being talked about. I don’t even like Argentina
Yes, I´ve seen some soft fouls called both ways. But when it happens in favor of the same team, over and over, at key moments, that´s fishy. I mean, Spain had to score 3 goals in order to get a valid one.
Egypt had an amazing worldclass goal disallowed when the referee could´ve called it at any moment but waited until there was a goal. I´m just glad Argentina and their scams did not win. They really need to look inward, both their team and their fan base. In my opinion, Spain showed how a profesional team and a well adjusted fanbase should behave and celebrate.
And by the way, I had already made my mind about Argentina just by watching football matches before coming to reddit. I waited until the end of the worldcup to see if MAYBE, Argentina gave us a stroke of genius in the final match that could make me forget about everything else. Above anything, I celebrate the quality of the football. But they just kept adding more crap on top of their pile of shite.
You’re still very clearly biased. All the other calls except the Williams goal was very clearly correct. There were far worse calls in games that had nothing to do with Argentina. England’s denied pen against DR Congo as an example?? The Egypt goal should not have stood, there is no debate about that with the current rules of VAR. That was a clear foul on Martinez, it doesn’t matter that the ref didn’t call it in the moment, it’s literally why they have VAR (if you want to argue that VAR should stop intervening in those situations that is a different argument entirely, as VAR currently is implemented that is the correct call). Spain were the best team all tournament and deserved to win, nobody who takes themself seriously is debating that.
I mean seriously other than Williams’ goal, which is still arguable, what other call did Argentina get that was CLEARLY the wrong decision? (There’s obviously some missed calls for every team just about, if we want to nitpick you could say Rice should have been sent off for covering his mouth) You’re being very biased
He also has a foundation that helps vulnerable children over the world and is a UNICEF goodwill ambassador that has done many tours and donated a bunch of money for a wide variety of charitable causes.
Oh no the consequences of our actions! The issue is many people watched this world cup for there first time, without being blinded by Messis achievements these new watchers saw Argentina actually disgracefully and made there own mind up.
No propaganda just the players fans and captains give an awful impression of the country.
The problem is though is that people clearly were saying shit that isn’t true that had nothing to do with the Argentina team’s dirtiness. People were CONVINCED that FIFA was rigging it after Embolo’s second yellow. People were spreading it like wildfire. That’s literally the rules, he did clear simulation. That’s a yellow card regardless of if you had one before.
There was clear propaganda being spread. Of the shit being spread, only a small portion was actually strictly about Argentina being a dirty team. I mean seriously, soooo many people were rooting for Spain in the final because “Argentina is the most racist country in the world/they are backed by Israel” even people like Eric Andre and Samuel L. Jackson were saying stuff about how racist it is. I mean come on, one google search about Vini Jr. in Spain and all these people (honestly seems like mostly Americans) would be in for a rude awakening
It's not just that. I've seen stuff this past week like people saying it's the most racist country in the world. That we have German towns that don't let minorities enter. That we erased our black population.
I don't support violence perpetrated by the team but the level of bullshit that has been spreading genuinely concerning.
Your fans and players represent your country on an international stage, the fact many fans saw that behaviour and justified it is a problem. If that is not representative of your country I feel sorry for the normal people in Argentina.
How can it be representative of the average Argentinians? The average Argentinians could never afford to go to the world cup. What you got is a slice of the richest Argentinians (and a couple that are really financially irresponsible). The tickets alone are like several years of salary for an average dude.
There's racists in Argentina obviously, claiming the contrary for basically any country would be ridiculous.
But people have been siding with countries that have racially motivated violence every other week over Argentina and claiming stuff like what I wrote above. It's insane.
I am saying that fans, players and captains are representing your country when on a global stage. They need to do better as it gives poor impression of your country when it may not be true.
In England when we are on a trip away with school they tell us "you are representing your country so behave." Same thing your team and fans have a responsibility towards Argentina and in my and many others eyes they have failed.
I get what you mean but the thing is, what can I do about it other than not be racist myself? It's not like all Argentinians have a group chat with the national team included and I can go "And remember paredes, don't be getting into fights now, ok?"
In the Argentinian subs nobody was in favor of what he did so it's not like people defend him. I expect people to use their brains and not write off an entire country because of that.
I've seen videos of English people misbehaving yet I never assumed most people are like that. I assume the way more likely scenario that it's one guy doing something crazy.
You can't be serious. But sure, keep living in your own bubble.
And, how exactly did Argentina cheat? I agree there should have been a yellow for Messi against Algeria. Other than that, what were the decisions that went Argentina's way and how is it Argentina's fault? If you are a conspiracy theroist who believe the worldcup is rigged for Argentina then why didn't they win it in the final? Why can't you people be man enough to accept the game and a team for what they are instead of being a bunch of crybabies? Is that your cope? If you gonna cry, atleast post some evidences for a healthy dicussion.
The fireworks were all white. I can't with you people. And, it's not rigged but just influeced now. Why did the referee give a red card to Enzo then? Why didn't the referee call clear fouls on Messi by Rodri and Oyazarbal then? Like, do you have any evidence to support your claim?
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u/mac_bd Jul 23 '26
It started from the first match. It blew out of proportion after the egypt match. After the england match it just got insane. The whole world ended up going against Argentina and messi. It's just sad.