English football will challenge social media companies to prove they are serious about protecting players from sickening online abuse following another depressing week.
Marcus Rashford, Reece James, Anthony Martial, Axel Tuanzebe and Romaine Sawyers have all suffered disgusting racial abuse on the internet in recent days, while at least one other Premier League player was targeted last week.
English football’s key stakeholders will lobby companies such as Twitter and Instagram to implement greater self-governance with regards to online abuse — in particular ensuring all accounts are verified so anyone guilty is identifiable.
Marcus Rashford is one of a number of players who has received racial abuse on social media
Football’s leaders are gearing up for a week of important talks aimed at tackling the huge problem after it was thrust into the spotlight again over the weekend.
Sportsmail can disclose:
- The FA, during talks last week, learned of the Government’s plan to impose heavy fines on social media companies based on their global turnover if they are found negligent in protecting players. Whitehall also wants to make technology bosses personally liable for certain instances of online abuse.
- The account of a 12-year-old was linked to the racist abuse Romaine Sawyers received last week, prior to the arrest of a 49-year-old.
- The FA will this week hold internal talks about the problem after issuing a statement condemning the spate of online abuse.
- Kick It Out’s new chief executive Tony Burnett starts work today amid frustration within the organisation about the stuttering attempts to tackle the problem.
- The FA are still being inundated with complaints about players taking a knee.
Rashford’s team-mate Axel Tuanzebe has also been the target of online abuse
The Duke of Cambridge has said racist abuse in football is ‘despicable’ and ‘must stop’. William, who is also the FA’s president, said: ‘Racist abuse — whether on the pitch, in the stands, or on social media — is despicable and it must stop now.
‘We all have a responsibility to create an environment where such abuse is not tolerated, and those who choose to spread hate and division are held accountable.’
Led by the chair of the FA’s inclusion advisory board Paul Elliott, representatives from the governing body — and England stars Jordan Henderson and Tyrone Mings — held talks with Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Oliver Dowden and senior minister Nigel Huddleston about discrimination in football.
After Rashford called out the abuse he had received after Manchester United’s draw with Arsenal on Saturday, Dowden tweeted on Sunday: ‘More shocking revelations from @MarcusRashford on the scale of racist abuse online.
Prince William has said that racist abuse in football is ‘despicable’ and ‘must stop’
‘That’s why I organised a round-table with footballers on Monday to discuss how we can use the upcoming Online Harms legislation to tackle this scourge. We must not and will not tolerate this.’
During discussions, Government officials spoke of the ‘zero tolerance’ approach they intend to take as they finalise the Online Harms Bill — including the plan to heavily fine social media companies and make their senior bosses personally accountable in the event of unacceptable abuse.
The Government told the FA and players, who also included Troy Deeney and Karen Carney, that discussions around the bill — a draft of which will be presented to Parliament this year — are a top priority.
The FA’s delegation — led by Elliott — are said to have left the call optimistic the forthcoming Bill will have a positive impact.
There is a feeling among stakeholders, including the Premier League and FA, that greater restrictions on who can open social media accounts — for instance providing genuine identification — should be introduced as a matter of urgency.
So far, social media companies have fallen short of doing that, focusing their attention on dealing with instances of abuse after they have taken place.
But key figures believe not enough work is being done to prevent such instances and have been provided with no satisfactory reason why tech firms are reluctant to act.
The Premier League are expected to send a memo to their clubs this week to reinforce their commitment to fighting the problem and reminding members of the mechanisms in place to report abuse, including their online system.
The Premier League tracked one account, which abused Brighton striker Neal Maupay, to Singapore last year.
Indeed, Sportsmail understands one of the accounts that racially abused Sawyers last week was traced to a 12-year-old. But the anonymity of some accounts makes it virtually impossible for the authorities to identify abusers.
Speaking on Sunday, former Arsenal and England striker Ian Wright said: ‘With the cases I’ve had, the Premier League have been amazing in helping to track people down. Things are being done.’
However, there is a growing dissatisfaction that social media giants are not doing enough. Kick It Out have held extensive talks with social media companies over the past two years without making significant progress, something that is a source of major frustration within the organisation.
Iffy Onuora, who is set to become the Premier League’s first head of equality, diversity and inclusion, said: ‘They (social media companies) have been far too slow to take down harmful material, not just in terms of the abuse that footballers have suffered but abuse generally.
‘There is technology out there that can protect this a lot quicker than they’ve been minded to move.’