Social media firms to be taken to task if they fail to curb racist abuse online

Chennai, February 5: To tackle the issue of racial abuse online that has been plaguing the world of football, the British Government has decided to take severe action against the social media firms that fail to deal with the issue.

The British government has threatened social media companies with hefty fines if they fail to tackle abuse of footballers on their platforms.

The issue of online racial abuse has burst into the spotlight recently, with players from Manchester United, Chelsea and other clubs from the Premier League targeted in various incidents .

Individuals and clubs, as well as the Football Association and Premier League, have condemned the abuse and called on social media firms to take tougher action against hateful messages.

"If you fail to enforce your own terms and conditions, stand up to your duty of care, then we'll impose fines and we'll take the power to impose very large fines - indeed up to 10 per cent of global turnover. For some of these big tech firms that's running to billions of pounds," said British Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Oliver Dowden.

A few days back, Southampton’s Alexandre Jankewitz faced racial abuse on social media after the footballer received a straight red just two minutes into their game against Manchester United, which the Saints ultimately lost 0-9 at the Old Trafford.

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Marcus Rashford who last October became an MBE after using his status to raise awareness about child hunger and forcing the British government into a u-turn regarding underprivileged children claiming free school meals, was also a victim of racial abuse just few days back.

Rashford described his recent abuse as an example of 'humanity and social media at its worst', just days after his United team-mates Anthony Martial and Axel Tuanzebe were targeted online, with a number of racist comments and symbols appearing on old photos on Instagram.

Chelsea right back, Reece James also faced racial abuse in what the club described as 'disgusting'.