Football stars have warned social media companies that they will boycott them for up to a month or even indefinitely if they don’t start tackling racial abuse.
From 3pm today until one minute before midnight on Monday, a coalition of English football’s largest governing bodies and organisations including the Football Association, Premier League and the EFL will switch off their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.
Speaking ahead of the boycott today, Crystal Palace star Andros Townsend vowed players and other sports stars will not “take this abuse any more”.
He told BBC Sport: “I’m proud of the players. We’re finally finding our voices and speaking up as a community and a group of players.
“But when you start to speak up and start to fight back, obviously you face resistance.
“Hopefully it’ll let the major media companies – Twitter, Instagram – hopefully it lets them know that we’re not going to take this abuse no more, we’re going to start fighting back.”
Asked whether he thought the four-day blackout will make a difference, the 29-year-old said: “Probably not, but what it does do is send a warning to these companies that if you don’t start regulating your platforms, it’s going to be an indefinite blackout.”
His remarks came as Watford captain Troy Deeney told i sport he believes football’s social media boycott this weekend will put the platforms’ “feet close to the fire” and send a warning that “this is what we did for four days, imagine if we did it for a month”.
Ahead of the boycott, Manchester United revealed the findings of its own review into social media abuse across Twitter, Instagram and Facebook from September 2019 to February 2021.
The club found that there has been a 350 per cent increase in abuse directed towards its players. The analysis discovered that 86 per cent of these posts were racist, while eight per cent were homophobic or transphobic.
Former Newcastle and Portsmouth goalkeeper Shaka Hislop said he welcomed the blackout but said more needs to be done.
Speaking to PA, he said: “I don’t see it stopping the abuse but I feel it provides an opportunity for so many against racism to be a part of something and to show support.
“It allows us to start having those conversations about what true change means and how we come about it. That is the very important step this moment is.”
And Livingston captain Marvin Bartley said that he is concerned that a footballer will take his own life before racism on social media is taken more seriously.
He told The Times he fully supports the boycott and revealed he had recently been the target of a racist Instagram message but claimed the company did nothing.
He said: “I spoke to a player recently who was absolutely struggling with it all. Mentally, they were struggling already – and then they were abused. One was to do with their sexuality and one with their race and one of them actually said, ‘I don’t know where I turn from here’. How sad is that?
“You’ve got a young individual who looks like they could take their own life because they don’t feel protected. That’s what’s going to happen [with someone] and people will come out and say, ‘what a wonderful person they were and we’re going to make a change now because this isn’t acceptable’. Why are we waiting for this to happen? Because it is coming.”
The English football’s largest governing bodies and organisations including the Football Association, Premier League and the EFL are involved in the initiative, plus the FA Women’s Super League, FA Women’s Championship, Professional Footballers’ Association, League Managers’ Association, PGMOL, foobtall’s anti-discrimination charity Kick It Out, Women in Football and the Football Supporters’ Association.
A joint statement said: “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.”
Sponsors, broadcasters and other media, including i sport, will also show support and participate in the blackout.
The organisations boycotting Twitter, Facebook and Instagram this weekend:
Football
Clubs across the Premier League, EFL, Women’s Super League and Women’s Championship will switch off their accounts. Governing bodies’ central accounts – such as those belonging to the Premier League, the Football Association, the WSL, the EFL, the Professional Footballers’ Association, the League Managers Association and the Football Supporters’ Association are also involved, as are anti-discrimination bodies Kick It Out and Show Racism The Red Card.
Clubs and governing bodies across Scottish football have also now pledged to support the boycott, along with the Football Association of Wales.
Cricket
The England and Wales Cricket Board announced on Wednesday that it, the 18 first-class counties, the eight women’s regional teams and the Professional Cricketers’ Association were joining the boycott.
Rugby union
The Rugby Football Union stands in solidarity with the football and cricket authorities, and its accounts for England Rugby, the Allianz Premier 15s, the Championship and GB7s will all suspend activity, it was confirmed on Thursday. Clubs in the Gallagher Premiership announced they were boycotting social media the previous day, with the support of the Rugby Players’ Association, while Scottish Rugby also joined in on Thursday, with Edinburgh Rugby and Glasgow Warriors’ accounts becoming inactive.
Rugby League
Super League, organisers of the Rugby League World Cup 2021 and the Rugby League Players’ Association are all taking part in the blackout.
Tennis
The Lawn Tennis Association announced on Monday its intention to stand with football in support of the boycott. On Friday morning, the International Tennis Federation and International Tennis Integrity Agency said both organisations would “stand united with all sports against social media abuse” to support the social media boycott.
Darts
The Professional Darts Corporation said on Thursday it will support the social media boycott.
Formula 1
On Friday, F1 issued a statement reiterating a commitment to “combatting any form of discrimination, online or otherwise”, noting support for the efforts of the other sporting bodies in highlighting the issues while pledging to “work with all platforms and our own audiences to promote respect and positive values and put a stop to racism.”
Lewis Hamilton
With Formula 1 not planning to take part, the seven-time world champion is happy to help, saying: “I am fully supportive of the initiative and if me doing it helps put pressure on those platforms in order to help fight against it then, for sure, I am happy to do so.” On Friday, Hamilton’s compatriot George Russell, a driver with Williams, confirmed he will also take part in the boycott.
Horse Racing
British Horseracing said it will take part in the boycott from 9pm on Friday evening, following a planned commemoration of the life of Lorna Brooke.
Cycling
British Cycling is standing in “solidarity with all of those who have suffered or continue to suffer abuse” in joining the boycott.
Sponsors
Sportswear giant Adidas – which manufactures more than a third of Premier League kits – is stopping all advertising across its platforms. Barclays, which sponsors the WSL, will support the blackout, with no social media posts on the Barclays Football pages of Facebook and Instagram nor the Barclays Footy Twitter account, while the company’s other social channels will avoid all football-related activity.
England football team sponsor Budweiser has signed up, along with Nationwide, while online car retailer Cazoo – which sponsors Everton and Aston Villa – became the first major sponsor to announce its support of the boycott on Tuesday.
Broadcasters
BT Sport says the only posts on its channels over the blackout period will relate to social media abuse while talkSPORT is also supporting the boycott. Sky Sports, a key supporter of Kick It Out, is backing the campaign along with fellow Premier League broadcasters Amazon Prime.
Media
i sport will join the boycott and i sports editor Ally McKay said: “We at i have long campaigned vociferously for change regarding abuse online. In agenda-setting interviews with Tyrone Mings, Wes Morgan, Marvin Sordell and Emile Heskey among many others, we have told the horrifying stories of racial abuse suffered by some of the nation’s most famous and celebrated footballers. We stand with them today in demanding social media companies take action to try to eradicate hatred from their platforms.”
The Sun also said it was “proud to stand united with the football community” in announcing a boycott and the Guardian have also decided to show unity.
Additional reporting by Press Association
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3e46Xxe
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