Sunday, April 25, 2021 at 7:00 am• Daniel Cabot Kerkdijk

All English clubs will boycott social media next weekend. The clubs are doing this in response to the increase in racist and discriminatory texts through the channels towards players. The boycott of Twitter, Facebook and Instagram will start next Friday, April 30 at 3 p.m., and will last until Monday, May 3 at 11:59 p.m. Clubs, players, trainers and also referees will not post anything on social media. The top game between Manchester United and Liverpool is on the program this weekend.

“Racism in any form is unacceptable and we cannot allow players and clubs to continue to deal with this on social media,” Richard Masters wrote in a statement on behalf of the Premier League. “With this boycott, the Premier League and our clubs want to make it clear that the social media companies must do more to eradicate racial hatred. We will not stop challenging these companies until there are significant improvements in policies to address online discrimination. ”

Chelsea FC will boycott social media between April 30 and May 3 in response to the discriminatory abuse targeted at players and many others.

We are united with all in English football in saying that this cannot continue. Social media companies must do more to stop online hate.

– Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) April 24, 2021

In February, English football organizations wrote another letter to the major social media companies calling for them to block accounts guilty of racism and insults. “We’ve had many meetings with your executives over the years, but the reality is that your platforms are still a haven from abuse. Your inaction has given the anonymous perpetrators the impression that they are untouchable, ”the letter said. According to the Premier League, this has been insufficiently followed by Facebook and Twitter. Instagram, owned by Facebook, did announce new measures and Twitter replied to “continue the efforts.”

Earlier this month, Swansea City, Birmingham City and the Scottish Rangers banned their social media for a week, after players of those clubs were treated racially. Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Sadio Mané and Reece James, among others, have also been hit by racism on social media in recent weeks. Former football player Thierry Henry has already announced that he will stop using the ‘poisoned’ social media.