Isn’t it time social media was brought under control - dreadful abuse after England football defeat.

I am not sure the social media as such can do much more than they already are doing.

I use facebook very little and none of the other media such as twitter or instagram, so this question may be naive, but can you not block a sender on your own account, as you can if you receive an e-mail from a dubious source?

My attitude is that we all need to make a stand, by demonstrating that the fact one is anonymous does not mean one can be as abusive as possible.

We also need to speak out against racism and other unacceptable attitudes whenever and wherever we meet them.

This can take a fair amount of moral courage, but is one of the few ways we can change attitudes.

If you know who the person is who made an abusive post then you can forward that person's post, name and address to the cyber division of the police or to the procurator fiscal and let them decide whether there are grounds for legal proceedings against the person.

poshpaws

Going against the grain here.

I think we have sufficient controls over free speech in every aspect of our lives. There will always be obnoxious, vile people using social media as a platform for instance, but the answer is to scroll past, or report. To police even more aspects of our freedoms than the Westminster government has already done and is planning more of, would simply ensure that in 20 years time todays kids and their kids will be living in a totalitarian dictatorship.

Personally I'd rather be offended by some things than lose my right to express my own views.

I agree with that poshpaws. And no one is forced to use/look at social media anyway.

there is a petition;

petition.parliament.uk/signatures/115570988/signed

Make verified ID a requirement for opening a social media account.
Make it a legal requirement when opening a new social media account, to provide a verified form of ID. Where the account belongs to a person under the age of 18 verify the account with the ID of a parent/guardian, to prevent anonymised harmful activity, providing traceability if an offence occurs.

I always wonder if those posting disgusting comments would ever actually have the nerve to go and say the same thing to people's faces. I doubt it.
I am one of the admins on a community noticeboard on Facebook and it never fails to surprise me the abuse that some people think is quite acceptable to post in reply to some queries that people ask about the local area.
One of the biggest problems is that anyone can hide behind a completely fake name to set up a Facebook account and there is absolutely no way that any of them can be checked and confirmed they are correct once the account holder changes all of their settings to private.
In some sick way, attaching their brain to a keyboard for some people seems to give them the feeling of power and so gives them some right to put just what they think, with absolutely no filter. There is currently no recourse against the so called anonymous sadly and it's time that the social media, as well as governments worldwide need to step up and make it illegal to post abusive comments as companies such as Facebook do absolutely nothing, beyond claiming reported posts are not against "community standards"

Sometimes I’m ashamed to be called British. This is one of the times.
Awful. Just awful
And booing other nations national anthems too

Elleee

For me, this tweet from Tyrone Ming's says it all and I agree with every word

I absolutely, totally agree with this.

Going against the grain here.

I think we have sufficient controls over free speech in every aspect of our lives. There will always be obnoxious, vile people using social media as a platform for instance, but the answer is to scroll past, or report. To police even more aspects of our freedoms than the Westminster government has already done and is planning more of, would simply ensure that in 20 years time todays kids and their kids will be living in a totalitarian dictatorship.

Personally I'd rather be offended by some things than lose my right to express my own views.

Yes I have a mixed culture gd and she is disgusted. She’s even
Deleted some of her cousins off her phone. So angry that these young man are treated like that.

Unfortunately you cannot change the way some people think, feel and voice their prejudice, but you can take away the platforms they use. Yes social media companies need to take a stand and be accountable.

Most definitely. I've thought this for a long time. The Internet has possibly become the worst invention in the world. Social Media has exploded with ever more nastiness spewing from it, with what appears to be very little regulation.

Cunco I am off to bed now. I will look your thread up in the morning.

25 Avalon: Fair enough. Actually, I did post a thread on the impact of Social Media a few weeks ago. Several people share our concerns but I don't recall any break-through solutions. We all want the platforms to monitor and identify abusers but the question remains on how to do it effectively. There is also the issue of children seeing things that are not good for them on the internet but again, no easy solutions.

Everything about it gives me the creeps, not just the fans' misbehaviour and the racist abuse, but the ill-mannered behaviour of the players who removed their runners-up medals as soon as they were put on - how rude is that?

Can we get back to social media please? We’ve done taking the knee on other threads. I reiterate I am concerned with all abuse on social media and what came be done about it particularly for our children and youngsters who live in a social media world.

I agree that people should not boo those who take the knee.

I disagree that people have not felt pressure to take the knee although I think now there is a wider range of acceptable alternatives. Sadly, I do not think any of them will have a great influence on those who abuse.

Lin52, Tyrone Mings isn't a pundit, he actually plays for England and he is black
I would imagine that he knows what he is talking about
The excuses on here, the justification for the Government not condemning booing the England team 'taking the knee' is indefensible

No one is asking people to take the knee, they are asking not to boo those who do. It's just utterly disrespectful.

Cunco at last someone who feels the same way in your second paragraph. Kick it Out isn’t just about racism but about all discrimination. And my thread is about all abuse as well.

25Avalon: As I wrote earlier, I think the way to influence social media is for people, organisations etc. to stop using the channels that allow abuse. It is simple and probably more effective than other options, at least in the short term, but a solution that, sadly, most will not accept.

As it happens, I would not take the knee either. I think there are better ways to make a gesture of togetherness. I would not support 'Black Lives Matter' either; but I would (and indeed have) supported 'Kick It Out'. To me, it makes sense to unify all of us against racism rather than define which gestures we must adopt. When Michael Holding says on the Sky Sports advert, 'we're all in', it is inclusive, not exclusive, and can appeal to all. It certainly appeals more to me.

Trouble is Infinity the world can’t see who makes abusive remarks on social media.

I’m in favour of free speech, if people can debate controversial issues in a reasonable and civilised manner. The art of debate seems well and truly dead nowadays.
As to those who just use social media to abuse and insult other people, they fail to see that the only person they are actually humiliating is themselves by letting the world see how ignorant and moronic they really are.
With regard to the young men who tried and failed to score last night - they stood up to the plate and did their best, and anyone with a brain should be proud of them for that.

GagaJo I didn’t want to talk about football and the dreadful abusive tweets per se but about all forms of abuse and grooming which is happening on social media and what can be done about it. How can we protect young people?

Very true Lins racist abuse of players has been going on for a very long time and in many European countries.
Johnson has faults, but he has come out hard against these disgraceful tweets.

Look at what happened in the US as a result of Trump. This behaviour is seen as acceptable when a leader engages in it.

See all the pundits are throwing the blame at Johnson, well of course they will. They blame everyone but the people who are to blame, the so called fans, have have bred among themselves the racial hatred, which has been going on much longer than Johnson has been PM.