There are exceptions, but petitions are an infamously poor method of actually getting anything done.
Petitions alone often leave people with the feeling that they have done something without actually requiring them to do very much, and on their own are often pointed to as the primary form of slacktivism.
But even by those already very low standards set by the form, there have been some particularly hopeless petitions in the wake of the 2026 World Cup.
FIFA opt to ignore odd petition claiming millions of signatures
First we had a petition on Change.org for Argentina's 3-2 victory over Egypt to be replayed, despite the Egyptians' squandering of a two goal lead in the final 11 minutes of the game having little to do with officiating decisions.
Then we had Argentina fans going the other way and calling on the final against Spain to be replayed on the basis of the entirely unsubstantiated claims over 'the controversial and corrupt performance of the referee, who, according to video evidence, was bribed to influence the outcome of the match'. That's currently just shy of 100,000 signatures.
We dare say the referee had absolutely nothing to do with Argentina failing to have a shot until the 127th minute of that game, lads.
But the biggest, stupidest and most futile petition of all was the website ArgentinaOut.org - which we don't particularly recommend visiting thanks to their aggressive advert redirects, ironically to ad blockers.
They claim to have received over 28 million signatories to their call to see Argentina booted out of the World Cup and banned from the competition indefinitely.
Yeah probably that was never going to happen, we reckon.
Their Argentinian beef was multifold, with the website repeating claims of corruption in the then-reigning champions' favour, and, in fairness, some historic incidents of racism.
The website helpfully points out that the petition did not result in Argentina's defeat in the final.
It says: "Spain won the match on the field. Argentina Out was an independent fan campaign with no official role in FIFA or the tournament result."
Good to have that confirmed.
If there were indeed that many 'signatures' on the petition - and you'll be unsurprised to learn we're sceptical - then we hope everyone who aided the cause feels good about themselves for having achieved precisely diddly-squat in the name of a completely futile cause, other than lining the pockets of a website set up to exploit them for ad clicks.
Now please consider clicking any of the ads on this very page.
