Man Utd: Rashford targeted by online abuse

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The Duke of Cambridge, president of the Football Association, took to Twitter along with Kate in a rare statement to announce that they would participate in the unprecedented four-day action, which began yesterday. He wrote: “I join the entire football community in the social media boycott this weekend.” The post on the official Duke and Duchess of Cambridge page was signed off with “W” – signalling it had been written by the prince.

In January, William, 38, hit out at racist abuse in football, describing it as “despicable” and saying it “must stop” after several black players were targeted online.

He said everyone has “a responsibility to create an environment where such abuse is not tolerated, and those who choose to spread hate and division are held accountable for their actions”.

Manchester United star Marcus Rashford, 23, was joined by former players – now TV broadcasters – Gary Lineker and Gary Neville in support for the boycott before it began yesterday at 3pm until 11.59pm on Monday.

They are also backed by the Daily Express’s Unmask The Online Trolls campaign to make the internet safe and abuse-free by denying people anonymity when they are using social media.

The players’ protest is responding to concerns that platforms like Twitter and Facebook, which also owns Instagram, are not doing enough to combat anonymous abuse faced by the game’s stars.

Rashford demanded they take more concrete action to tackle the attacks and discrimination.

A similar message was shared by England captain Harry Kane, 27, and other top players.

In a group post they said: “Social media companies must do more: put stronger preventative and takedown measures in place to stop discriminatory abuse being sent or seen.

“Be accountable for safety on platforms and protect users by implementing effective verification. Ensure real-life consequences for online discriminatory abuse: ban perpetrators, stop account re-registration and support law enforcements.”

The boycott plan was started by French World Cup winner and former Arsenal star Thierry Henry after he said he would leave Twitter and Instagram until they addressed bullying and racism. 

Match Of The Day host Lineker, 60, told people to enjoy their bank holiday alongside a hashtag which said social media boycott, before he logged out.

Former United star Neville, 46, said the abuse on the platforms “must stop now”. 

Clubs from the Premier League, English Football League, Scottish Football League, the Women’s Super League and Scottish women’s football are on board. The UK governing bodies – the Football Association, Scottish FA, Football Association of Wales and Irish Football Association – are joined by Euro bosses UEFA in the protest.

Reach plc, which owns the Daily Express and is the nation’s biggest sports publisher, said all sports channels across its network will join the boycott of social media.

Manchester United revealed that online abuse aimed at their players increased by 350 percent since September 2019.

Of 3,300 abusive posts on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, the club said 86 percent were racist, while eight percent were homophobic or transphobic.

United has banned six fans for abusing Tottenham’s Son Heungmin online after a match last month, while Chelsea gave one supporter a decade-long ban for anti-Semitic posts.

Richard Arnold, United’s group managing director, said: “We have been campaigning against discrimination through our All Red All Equal initiative.

“The level of support for this from our fans has been hugely encouraging. But these figures show that, despite that, the level of abuse our players and fans receive is on the up.” Stars from cricket, rugby union, rugby league, tennis, Formula One and other sports joined football in taking a stand against bigotry on social media.“

Sir Lewis Hamilton, 36, is taking part ahead of tomorrow’s Portuguese Grand Prix.The seven-time world champion, who has 22 million followers on Instagram and more than six million on Twitter, said: “I am fully supportive. “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.”

In a statement of support, Formula One said: “We continue to work with all platforms and our own audiences to promote respect and positive values and put a stop to racism.”

A bill on online safety, due before Parliament this year, is expected to set out a duty of care to which tech firms must adhere, with significant financial penalties if breached.

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said: “If social media companies do not keep their promises to users by, for example, failing to remove racist abuse, they will face severe sanctions – fines of up to 10 percent of annual global turnover. That could be billions.”

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