April 26 – In an unprecedented show of anti-discrimination unity, the entire professional pyramid of English football have joined forces to boycott social media next weekend in response to the online abuse aimed at players in recent weeks.
Authorities including the English Football Association, , Premier League, English Football League, FA Women’s Super League, FA Women’s Championship, Professional Footballers’ Association and Kick It Out announced the move in a joint statement.
“English football coming together to emphasise that social media companies must do more to eradicate online hate, while highlighting the importance of educating people in the ongoing fight against discrimination,” the statement said.
The organisations said that the boycott has been scheduled to take place “across a full fixture programme in the men’s and women’s professional game and will see clubs across the Premier League, EFL, WSL and Women’s Championship switch off their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts”.
”While football takes a stand, we urge the UK government to … bring in strong legislation to make social media companies more accountable for what happens on their platforms.”
Premier League Chief Executive Richard Masters commented: “Racist behaviour of any form is unacceptable and the appalling abuse we are seeing players receive on social media platforms cannot be allowed to continue.
“The Premier League and our clubs stand alongside football in staging this boycott to highlight the urgent need for social media companies to do more in eliminating racial hatred.
“We will not stop challenging social media companies and want to see significant improvements in their policies and processes to tackle online discriminatory abuse on their platforms.
Kick it Out’s chairman Sanjay Bhandari commented: “This boycott signifies our collective anger. Social media is now sadly a regular vessel for toxic abuse.
“By removing ourselves from the platforms, we are making a symbolic gesture to those with power. We need you to act. We need you to create change. We need social media companies to make their platforms a hostile environment for trolls rather than for the football family.”
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