Racist tweeters ‘should get a knock on the door from the police and face the full force of the law’: MPs say social media companies must do more to tackle online abuse after black England stars are targeted following Euro 2020 defeat
Social media firms were told to get a grip on racist abuse or face punitive action today in the wake of sickening abuse aimed at black England footballers.
Royalty, leading politicians including the Prime Minister and even the Archbishop of Canterbury slammed trolls who targeted Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Sako after last night’s Euro 2020 heartbreak.
Police are now investigating but social media firsts have come under presser to take swifter and more decisive action against offenders.
Facebook and Twitter condemned the abuse as ‘abhorrent’, saying they have taken steps to remove the posts and encouraged people to use filters to block out harmful content.
Twitter said it had removed more than 1,000 tweets and blocked several accounts. But Julian Knight, chairman of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, said: ‘The racist abuse of England players online is repellent and vile.
‘Perpetrators should be getting a knock on the door from the police and facing the full force of the law.
‘Social media companies once alerted to this abuse have an acute responsibility to immediately take it down.
‘The Government needs to get on with legislating the tech giants. Enough of the foot dragging, all those who suffer at the hand of racists, not just England players, deserve better protections now.’
Royalty, leading politicians including the Prime Minister and even the Archbishop of Canterbury slammed trolls who targeted Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho (pictured) and Bukayo Sako after last night’s Euro 2020 heartbreak.
Julian Knight, chairman of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, said: ‘The Government needs to get on with legislating the tech giants’
Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said this morning that he shared the ager at the abuse, adding: ‘Social media companies need to up their game in addressing it and, if they fail to, our new Online Safety Bill will hold them to account with fines of up to 10 per cent of global revenue.’
The Bill will put a new legal duty of care on online companies to protect their UK users from harm, including people receiving abusive comments, threats and harassment online.
However, it has also faced criticism over fears that it risks stifling the free press, ‘silencing marginalised voices’ and introducing ‘state-backed censorship on a scale never seen in a liberal democracy’.
A mural honouring England star Marcus Rashford was vandalised less than an hour after last night’s Euro 2020 final defeat
Marcus Rashford, left, and Jadon Sancho have their heads in their hands after missing their kicks
One user wrote under the latest Instagram picture of Saka (pictured), 19: ‘Go back to Nigeria.’ While another said: ‘Get out my country’
England’s Kalvin Phillips embraces a member of the England staff and Mason Mount waves as the team prepare to head to their homes after a month in their team bubble
Campaigners warned that in its draft form it could also be used to target wider freedom of expression including from the media – and could even result in blanket bans for publishers.
Ofcom will be in charge of regulating social media firms, with the power to issue fines up to £18million and block access for repeat offences.
The aim is to make Britain one of the safest places to be online in the world – especially for children.
Home Secretary Priti Patel said this afternoon social media companies ‘can no longer ignore’ racist and vile abuse on their platforms.
She told the Commons: ‘Social media companies, in particular, have a clear responsibility for the content that they host on their platforms and they can no longer ignore some of the appalling, vile, racist, violent and hateful content that appears on their platforms.’