Onclusive and Cyabra teamed up to analyze the media and social conversation around the 2026 World Cup, tracking over 52 million mentions and an estimated reach of 49.8 billion across traditional and social media between June 11 and July 3.
Within that conversation, Cyabra’s analysis identified inauthentic activity exceeding platform benchmarks across multiple viral narratives, with fake profile involvement reaching as high as 24.4 percent during the tournament’s group stage.
The narratives ranged from a false claim about Norway’s team distrusting American food to a coordinated ticket resale scam network, alongside recurring storylines tied to geopolitics, refereeing controversies and fan experience.
Coordination indicators included templated bot phrasing, synchronized posting behavior and low follower networks funneling users toward third party sites, patterns consistent across the narratives tracked.
Cyabra’s analysis of six competitive 2026 midterm races found coordinated inauthentic activity in every race, concentrated in candidates’ replies sections.
Sony's decision to phase out physical PlayStation discs activated a pre-organized movement, attracted coordinated inauthentic amplification, and generated over 100 million views before the brand had responded.
Cyabra's analysis found a coordinated network of inauthentic accounts amplifying election fraud claims following a ballot paper shortage during South Korea's June 3 elections.
