Brentford Decry Ivan Toney Online Abuse

Brentford have put their foot down with regards to online trolling as their star player, Ivan Toney, endured abuse on social media.

The Bees released a statement on Wednesday, 7 February, commenting that they were “angered and frustrated” over the “vile harassment” of their 27-year-old forward on Instagram. The club also called for prompt action from the companies that run social media platforms, and for criminal prosecutions.

An investigation has been launched, but this isn’t the first time that Toney has experienced online racism. In March last year, a man received a UK-wide stadium ban for three years for aiming a torrent of abuseat Toney on Instagram.

Such cases are not isolated, however, as Luton Town’s striker, Elijah Adebayo, can attest to being on the receiving end of online trolls as recent as October last year.

Meta, Instagram’s parent company, has provided “underwhelming” responses, according to Brentford.

“Their solutions, such as filters to simply hide the abuse, may safeguard the players, but miss the mark entirely and do not discourage the offenders. Without real consequences for those responsible, the cycle is doomed to repeat,” the statement explained, but also contained an optimistic note.

“We do have faith that things can change.”

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