April 26, 2021

Football Clubs to Boycott Social Media Over Racial Abuse

The English football world have decided to unite against online racial abuse targeted at players by boycotting social media for three days.

The Premier League, English Football League, Women’s Super League, and all the Football Association leagues and governing bodies will close their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts from Friday, 30 April until Sunday, 2 May 2021.

According to a statement released on behalf of these English football organisations, their upcoming protest is aimed at pushing social media companies and the government to take action against footballers’ experiences of online discriminatory abuse.

The joint statement reads: “The boycott shows 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.”

Premier League Chief Executive, Richard Masters, said: “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.”

Facebook and Twitter haven’t yet responded, but Instagram has welcomed the idea saying they are on the same side with the football organisations.

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