Online racist abuse out of control

ANTI-discrimination charity Kick It Out says it would back a Premier League-wide boycott of social media in protest at online racist abuse.

Swansea, Birmingham and Scottish champions Rangers are boycotting social platforms for a week.

It comes after several recent incidents of players receiving racist abuse on social media.

Kick It Out boss Tony Burnett says the boycotts are a sign of the “absolute disgust” felt within football.

He told the Press Association he felt instances of online abuse had increased since football’s governing bodies wrote to Facebook and Twitter in February to underline changes they want to see.

“I keep hearing stats from social media companies talking about how many posts they have taken down before they get to an individual – that’s irrelevant,” he said.

“The posts that cause the offence and cause the hurt and cause the pain are the ones that get through.

“They’re still getting through in numbers which are just inexplicable so not enough is being done, and I’m sick of platitudes on this, we want to see action.

“We support football and our partners in football that are taking direct action. If that’s a boycott, fantastic, we’ll get absolutely behind you on it.” It is understood discussions have taken place between Premier League clubs over a league-wide boycott. – bbc.com