Twitter and Facebook criticized for racist abuse on their platforms after England Euro final loss

Twitter Inc. and Facebook Inc. have come under fire after abuse was hurled via social media at the England team’s Black players, with some critics saying Twitter Inc. and Facebook Inc. did not act fast enough to take down the abuse.

The ugly comments were directed mainly at players Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka, all of whom missed penalty kicks in the end-of-game shootout. British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, called the abuse “appalling,” while the Football Association said in a statement that it was, “appalled by the online racism that has been aimed at some of our England players on social media.”

The social media companies themselves were also castigated for what some people thought was a slow reaction in deleting the offensive comments.

“The social media platforms and authorities must act to ensure this disgusting abuse to which our players are subjected on a daily basis stops now,” Arsenal, the team for which 19-year-old Saka plays, said in a statement. “We have processes in place internally at Arsenal to ensure our players are supported both emotionally and practically on this issue but sadly there is only so much we can do.”

The Football Association echoed those sentiments, saying social media companies “need to step up and take accountability and action to ban abusers from their platforms,” adding that the said companies should be responsible for gathering evidence so users can face legal action. London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, also asked for more accountability for social media companies.

In response, Facebook said it had taken down the offending comments “quickly.” The company added, “No one thing will fix this challenge overnight, but we’re committed to keeping our community safe from abuse.”

Twitter said that over a 24-hour period after the game, it took down more than 1,000 comments and has also banned a number of accounts that issued racist remarks. “The abhorrent racist abuse directed at England players last night has absolutely no place on Twitter,” a spokesperson for the company said.

Nonetheless, Priti Patel, the U.K.’s interior minister, said social media companies can “no longer ignore the appalling, vile, racist, violent and hateful content that appears on their platforms.” She said if something doesn’t change soon, the companies will feel the weight of the Online Safety Bill. Under this proposed legislation, social media companies that are accused of breaching the bill could face a fine of almost $25 million, or 10% of their annual global revenue.

Photo: Georgio/Flickr