Melanie Phillips and Layla Moran clash in racism debate

We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info

The former West Ham defender was one of a number of high-profile former players speaking at the Home Affairs Committee inquiry into online abuse yesterday. He said: “It is built to make you addicted to it, you can’t put it down once you start scrolling. There is a mental health issue of not being able to escape it. “What are the social media companies waiting for?

“Are they waiting for a high-profile footballer to kill themselves, or a member of their family to commit suicide? Because if they’re waiting for that, it’s too late.”

Ferdinand suggested similar technology behind predictive text could identify the context of the words in a tweet, and if they were deemed inappropriate it would be blocked.

He also said an account holder’s identity should be known, at least to the platforms themselves.

The former QPR and Reading defender suggested Twitter profited from race storms via retweets. He said: “The frenzy around it is monetary to them.”

Former Watford forward Marvin Sordell said online abuse had been one of the ­factors which contributed to his decision to quit the game early at just 28.

He said abuse had flourished because of inaction by social media companies and the weak sanctions issued after racist outbreaks in ­stadiums. He added: “We find excuses not to go to the root of the problem.”

Tara Hopkins, director of public policy EMEA at Instagram, and Katy Minshall, head of UK public policy and philanthropy at Twitter, said their platforms removed 95 per cent of hateful content.

But committee chair Yvette Cooper ­confronted them with abuse MPs had found left for weeks on the feeds of Bukayo Saka and Marcus Rashford.

She said: “Everything you have said to me seems like utter ­garbage ­compared to seeing these posts on the screen right now.”

● The Daily Express is campaigning for laws to allow trolls to be named and shamed with our Unmask the Online Trolls crusade.

Source: Read Full Article