English Football Association alongside several leagues and organisations have announced a social media boycott in a stand against ‘discriminatory abuse’ of footballers and club staff.
FA, Premier League, EFL, Women’s Super League and Women’s Championship plus their associated clubs will lead the boycott from 3pm BST on Friday 30 April 2021 until 23:59 BST on Monday 3 May, which will see social media accounts turned off across the four days.
It has also been confirmed that PFA, LMA, PGMOL, Kick It Out and FSA are also joining the temporary social media shutdown, in a show of solidary with leagues and clubs.
This decision has been taken as a stance towards the poor attitude of social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter in tackling ‘discriminatory abuse’ by users towards various footballers past and present in recent months.
There will be a full fixture programme across all aforementioned leagues, hence the decision to boycott social media next weekend, in what has been described as ‘English football coming together’ to encourage social media companies to remove hate.
It is also hoped that this boycott will highlight the need for further education in the continuous fight to stamp out discrimination within football, whilst also recognising how ‘vital’ social media is for the leagues, organisations and clubs to connect with supporters.
All associated parties have also iterated that although this move won’t stop discriminatory behaviour online, this step will demonstrate that they will be prepared to take ‘voluntary and proactive’ action if necessary
All various leagues and organisations have also urged the UK Government to ensure that the incoming ‘Online Safety Bill’ contains ‘strong legislation’ which make social media companies further accountable for unacceptable behaviour on their platforms than now.
FA Director of International Relations, Corporate Affairs and Co-Partner for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, Edlee John has described the abuse as “simply unacceptable” and that they will not continue to ignore this behaviour, adding; “… English football will not tolerate discrimination in any form.”
Premier League Chief Executive, Richard Masters also spoke of football being “diverse” and “stronger” through the unity of communities and different cultures, as he lent the league’s backing to this boycott.
EFL Chief Executive, Trevor Birch confirmed that EFL and associated clubs “fully support” this move and have vowed to ‘continue to strongly pursue’ various options to help encourage change, despite this boycott only being temporary.
Kick It Out are also supporting this protest with chairman, Sanjay Bhandari urging social media companies to ensure that their platforms are a “hostile environment” for online abusers.
Bhandari also spoke of the need for the Government to keep its bottle, saying; ” We need the Government to hold its nerve and keep its promises to regulate. The Online Safety Bill could be a game changer and we aim to help make that happen.”
This comes just over two months since the English game sent a letter to all social media companies in an attempt to force change, which hasn’t had the desired effect with players like Tyrone Mings and Son Heung-min receiving online abuse.