English football chiefs send an open letter to Twitter and Facebook
English football bodies have demanded action from social media websites amid increased levels of abuse aimed at football players.
The Premier League, FA, EFL, WSL, Women's Championship, PFA, LMA, PGMOL, and Kick It Out have all signed an open letter to Twitter CEO
Jack Dorsey
and Facebook founder, chairman, and CEO
Mark Zuckerburg
. The letter asks Twitter and Facebook to use their systems to end the abuse inflicted on footballers and officials. In recent weeks, players from both men and women football have suffered from racial abuse and referee
Mark Dean
has received death threats after a controversial decision. The governing bodies' letter has emphasized on the need for a change in the way these platforms handle racism.
"The language used is debasing, often threatening and illegal. It causes distress to the recipients and the vast majority of people who abhor racism, sexism and discrimination of any kind.
"We have had many meetings with your executives over the years but the reality is your platforms remain havens for abuse.
"Your inaction has created the belief in the minds of the anonymous perpetrators that they are beyond reach. The relentless flow of racist and discriminatory messages feeds on itself: the more it is tolerated by Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, platforms with billions of users, the more it becomes normal, accepted behaviour."
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