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

You are not supposed to but I use a different name on Twitter just as we do on here. That’s not because I want to anonymously post vile obnoxious hate remarks but because I don’t want any lunatics out there (GN excepted) knowing who I am, which would be easy to work out, and then being able to trace my address.

I think a white footballer missing a penalty would also have received abuse messages from those sick ignorant people full of anger and hate. This became escalated into full on racism because the three lads were black. All abuse needs to be stopped. The perpetrators must be found and shown society will not accept their vile behaviour. Zero tolerance for any kind of abuse.

Be interesting to see if this Onlines Harms Bill overseen by Ofcom is workable in view of some of the comments on here.

Lots of people remain anonymous on social media for very good reason. MN has over the years supported hundreds of women experiencing domestic violence, they would not have been able to receive the support without anonymity.

Just spotted split infinitive in my last post. Slap on the knuckles. I should have written to post anonymously. GN grammar sticklers forgive me!

Saetana

I need to point one thing out re the racist abuse sufffered by some of the England players. Gareth Southgate himself said most (not all) of this racist abuse is coming from other countries (as was the case before the Euros even started). Lets not jump to conclusions about most English football fans being racist please.

I caught a short report on Newsnight yesterday about a tech company which has identified over 100 accounts from which much of the vile abuse originated. Their representative said that this was just a snapshot of what has happened, but the majority of accounts were from outside the UK. This doesn’t seem to be getting much publicity, so I can’t give a link. I find it heartening and scary at the same time, as the implication was that much of it was orchestrated by hostile states.

If abuse is coming from other countries then the only way to stop it is through the social media companies who control the platforms banning or suspending those accounts. To take legal action each country would need it’s own laws.

Yes! People need to understand that all actions have consequences. If you want the right or freedom to say 'it' (whatever 'it' is at a particular moment in time) in a public forum then be prepared to deal with the consequences. The other side of freedom is responsibility.

I saw this diagram of where the racist social media posts came from…

Thank you GG that’s very interesting indeed.The UK is well down the list for online racial abuse, good to know.

Lucca

I don’t think anyone says “most” fans are racist but there are enough.

Those who defaced the Rashford mural were not “abroad”

It would be one or two people Lucca

the figures about much of the online abuse coming from overseas is interesting, although I couldn't read the details of which country. I wonder if this is the same trolls, bots etc., in China and Russia who also churned out the misinformation before the Brexit vote? Mind you if the aim was to destabilise and divide, that has backfired as most of the country are united in their condemnation.

Strong talk in the House of Commons today about making social media responsible. Also a law to ban fans who send racist texts from football for life. Actually the FA already has the power to do this but if it were to be made a criminal act all the better at preventing future racist abuse.

This has, however got to just be the start. All trolling and abuse needs to be stamped out. As I said before if it’s not acceptable offline then it’s not acceptable online.

Yes, I believe the amendment is to include online abuse in the same category as verbal abuse in the football grounds.

Interestingly GillT57 if there is verbal abuse at a football ground the club has the book chucked at it by the FA and is fined and held responsible for preventing it happening again. So the FA needs to put its own house in order. It is responsible for lack of stewards to prevent fans breaking into Wembley. No doubt it will be fined again by UEFA

Yes, absolutely there is no p,ace in our society for the abuse hurled at a team of young lads who did their country proud. Or anyone else for that matter. How to bring it under control, I don’t know but something has to be done as it is getting way out of hand.

I agree. The FA needs to step up here. You know more, and have far more experience of the world of football than I do, but I would think that stopping a match or fining the club(s) involved would concentrate the mind? Nobody is expecting respectful silence on the terraces, and there is no issue with singing and club rivalry and such, but as we have seen, these things can and will escalate. The situation with stewards at Wembley was ridiculous according to a woman giving an interview on R4 today, she said it was terrifying on Sunday, with people crowding down to the front, all over the steps. The implications for another crowd disaster were apparent, but the young inexperienced stewards could/would do nothing to stop hundreds of very, very drunk people from going where they liked. This could have ended up very much worse, physically.

GrannyGravy13

I saw this diagram of where the racist social media posts came from…

After a bit of searching online it seems that this graphic has been taken down. Its also unattributed. Any idea why?

If you have a link to it I'd like to see it, thanks.

OK Alegrias1 I delete my screen shots after use, but will have a look, it might be tomorrow though as we are going out for dinner.

Have a nice time! Don't worry about it, it was just a passing thought.

thepointnews.uk/2021/07/14/majority-of-racist-abuse-against-football-players-came-from-outside-uk/

Don't know who these are or how reliable this is

Today it has been explained that racist that attend football matches and shout abuse can be banned.So what they are now doing is to tweet/FB etc the abuse for which at present they face no penalty.

So no, I doubt very much that the majority of abuse comes from abroad.

Thanks hugshelp

I don’t know why in this technological age we can’t find out who these racists are, or people that abuse children or run suicide sites, they should be doing time not be on line.

Whitewavemark2

Today it has been explained that racist that attend football matches and shout abuse can be banned.So what they are now doing is to tweet/FB etc the abuse for which at present they face no penalty.

So no, I doubt very much that the majority of abuse comes from abroad.

But the evidence is mounting. This from Reuters.

The Premier League's data from their monitoring of abuse against players has shown that around 70% of cases involve abuse coming from social media users outside of the United Kingdom, a league source told Reuters on Tuesday.

This is interesting, from the New Statesman.

www.newstatesman.com/science-tech/social-media/2021/07/who-behind-online-abuse-black-england-players-and-how-can-we-stop

Maggiemaybee an interesting article. We can try and change our society but how do we stop racists from other countries, where it is said most of the abuse emanates from, except by banning them from social media?