[Official Site] ENGLISH FOOTBALL ANNOUNCES SOCIAL MEDIA BOYCOTT

ENGLISH FOOTBALL ANNOUNCES SOCIAL MEDIA BOYCOTT
Club News

The FA, Premier League, EFL, FA Women’s Super League, FA Women’s Championship, PFA, LMA, PGMOL, Kick It Out and the FSA will unite for a social media boycott from 15.00 on Friday 30 April to 23.59 on Monday 3 May, in response to the ongoing and sustained discriminatory abuse received online by players and many others connected to football.

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Can't argue with that.

Good to see that it's happening at a time when it actually matters, rather than after the season ends and nobody cares anyway.

 

A few days, a few weeks after the idea was first rumoured. I thought clubs would have agreed something bigger like a whole week and done it sooner like Monday to Sunday of the week we are in now. Still it's better than nothing.

 

It's being done over a full matchday weekend. The busiest time possible on a football club's social media channels.

It was going to happen a while ago, as a collective, but Swansea went alone.

This is a good idea and hopefully keeps the issue relevant and in the spotlight. But these social media companies should do much more.

 

It’s so sad that a small moronic minority spoil it for everyone else, as they hide behind their online anonymity.

I’m posting this as SFOTyke, which is a tad hypercritical, but I think you get my gist.

 

Anyone got a old guide on how to use the teletext? I think I’m going to need it for next weeks team news and scores.

Serious note, it’s a shame that the clubs and players feel this is needed. It’s a real shame.

 

I think it’s a stupid idea & is utterly pointless.

Most of the racist comments are posted by anonymous accounts looking to go viral. Getting clubs to come off social media will be exactly the type of reaction they’re after. They’ll be pissing themselves that they’ve got clubs to react like this.

At the same time decent fans miss out on updates.

I know what the comeback will be - ‘we’re trying to make social media companies take more action’ & racist tweets might get deleted a little bit quicker if more pressures put on but all these idiots will do is create new accounts & post more bile if they know they’re going to get a reaction.

 

I get the message but a whole week would have been better. Imagine a week on Monday until the following Monday every club involved. The last week of the regular season when so much promotion and relegation stories happen and no EFL team post a thing on social media.

They still have the official website and local press to get messages out and a whole week companies like Facebook and Twitter would notice the hit.

 

Not sure how much of an impact this will have. Need to remove the veil of anonymity on social media which emboldens the racists.

 

That’s the point. To try and force change through action.

And all in football completely agree. These companies certainly do need to remove anonymity. Let’s hope this small action makes a big difference.

 

It's about time something like this was done but unfortunately I don't think it will do a thing it will keep happening because some people have that sort of mentality it will never change

 

So better just do nothing...............

 

It’s not hypocritical at all, there is accountability on the bbs, just ask Nudger. Oh you can’t

 

My view is people should block & report them to twitter & if they aren’t an anonymous account report it to the police. Then if anyone’s convicted name & shame them & get the clubs to share the details of the conviction as a deterrent.

I think this culture of players sharing the racist abuse they receive from anonymous accounts is counter productive as it just encourages more trolls to post racist bile as getting a reaction off a footballer with hundreds of thousands of followers is exactly what they want.

 

It's a stand, and a needed one. I don't understand how these massive tech companies just don't care unless it starts to hurt them financially.

I've also no issue with apparent anonymity on social media. There were accounts like Fleet Street Fox (who has now shed that anonymity) and the Secret Barrister that have used social media to great effect and shared allsorts of interesting insights. I don't need to know who they are, nor do i want to. But they are abiding by the law and so their identity is something of an irrelevance.

The difference here is a few morons being racist scum. At the point they break the law, they should be able to be prosecuted and dealt with speedily and their lives impacted accordingly. I thought there were mechanisms to do that already, but it seems not.

Fair play to the football clubs, but sadly I doubt it will make any difference, either to the racist knuckledraggers or the tech giants.

 

This is a tough one, social media helped mobilise and organise fans to defeat the ESL. What's needed i think is for fans to identify the racists bigots and also at the same time identify bots. Then report their findings to the police and the clubs. If we can get these so called fans banned and prosecuted then we all win.

I've seen a large number of bots linked to offensive posts. The big question with them is who's deployed them? You automatically think of Russia, China etc but maybe we need to look closer to home. Some individuals are trying to create a culture war, to take us further towards a fascist state. The very same people who scream that their opinions and free speech are being attacked.

Basically big tech won't do this so drastic times call for unique measures.