English FA Urges UK Govt, Social Media Companies To Act On Online Racist Abuse Against Players
English Football Association has called on United Kingdom government and social media companies to help in the fight against online racist abuse that players are subjected to.
Manchester United defender Axel Tuanzebe and Manchester Women team player Lauren James became the latest additions to the endless list of players to be abused racially.
FA in a statement condemned the recent online racism players face from keyboard warriors who hide in a world of impunity.
It stated;
It has been yet another weekend where players are facing discriminatory abuse and having to deal with anonymous keyboard warriors who hide in a world of impunity. At The FA, we believe that enough is enough.
We will continue to do everything we can to stamp discrimination out of the game, but we implore government to act quickly and bring in the appropriate legislation so this abuse has real-life consequences.
Social media companies need to step up and take accountability and action to ban abusers from their platforms, gather evidence that can lead to prosecution and support making their platforms free from this type of abhorrent abuse.
We stand with Lauren James, Axel Tuanzebe and every victim of discrimination in all its forms. It’s time for change
— The FA (@FA) February 7, 2021
This is the second time in recent weeks Tuanzebe is at the end of online racist abuse.
The defender was verbally attacked after he committed a foul against Mason Greenwood in the dying minutes of United’s game against Everton on Saturday. The foul resulted in Calvert-Lewin’s last minute equaliser.
Prior to that, he was the subject of racism last month when United lost to Sheffield United at Old Trafford.
Meanwhile, Manchester United Women forward James, who is the sister of Chelsea defender Reece James, who had been a subject to racist abuse in recent weeks, was sent a monkey emoji as a comment on her post on Instagram on Sunday.
In response to the abuse received by Tuanzebe and James, spokesman for Facebook which owns Instagram said:
There is no place for hate speech on Instagram and we have taken action to remove the accounts and comments following the abuse received by Axel Tuanzebe this weekend. We are always working on new ways to tackle racism on Instagram and will have more to share soon.
Female English team have also lent their voice to the call for government to intervene in the racial attack against players.
Enough is enough.
We implore government to act quickly and bring in appropriate legislation so this abuse has real-life consequences.
Social media companies need to step up, ban abusers from their platforms and gather evidence that can lead to prosecution. https://t.co/LkQD2zJkor
— Lionesses (@Lionesses) February 7, 2021
Tuanzebe was not abused racially but with his ill-fated performance. He’s a player that have not contributed to his team but own goals and technical damages. It’s high time the coach benched him for the rest of the season.