Kick It Out demand change after Son receives racist abuse on social media

20 February 2023 , 20:24

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Kick It Out demand change after Son receives racist abuse on social media

Campaigners have demanded action to finally stop online racists after another Premier League footballer faced horrendous abuse.

Spurs star Son Heung-min faced “utterly reprehensible online racist abuse” after the match against the West Ham on Sunday in which he scored the winning goal. It happened just a week after Brentford forward Ivan Toney was targeted following their game against Arsenal.

Now Kick It Out has demanded more to be done to ban vile comments being posted online and get quicker at removing offensive content. They also want the government’s proposed new Online Safety bill to be able to give the police and the Crown Prosecution Service much easier and more powerful ways to crack down on offenders.

A spokesman said: “The longer it takes social media companies to take action, or government to pass the online safety bill, the more players will be abused. Both have been targeted in the past.

“Are players just expected to take the abuse while we wait for reform? Players should not be victims, they need better protection online, and this is why change needs to come quickly.

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“We will continue to work tirelessly with our partners across the game to ensure that those responsible for perpetrating discriminatory abuse face the strongest possible consequences for their actions.”

Son Heung-Min was the victim of racist abuse following Tottenham's win over West Ham (Getty Images)

It was unclear exactly how many racist messages were posted after the match. They had all been removed by Monday morning.

But Tottenham said they had reported the abuse towards Son. A club statement added: “We stand with Sonny and once again call on the social media companies and authorities to take action.”

Brentford was forced to issue a similar statement after a ‘barrage of abusive, racist direct messages’ were sent to their striker Ivan Toney following Saturday’s Premier League clash at Arsenal.

The Football Association said: “We strongly condemn the racist abuse aimed at Son Heung-min. “This has no place in our game and we fully support the authorities and social media companies to take the strongest possible action to tackle it.”

When asked for comment a spokesperson for Meta, which owns Instagram and Facebook, referred journalists to a guide released ahead of last year’s World Cup, on how the company is protecting footballers on its apps.

That includes – among other safety features – turning off direct message requests, limiting who can comment on posts and hiding certain offensive words or phrases.

Andy Lines