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

A few people have mentioned me in posts so I'm just letting you know I've read them, thanks

Education, education, education.
We are all responsible for ensuring that racism and any other form of bullying is stamped out by education and example. Social media platforms can only do so much.
The world seems to be full of hatred and a need to blame someone else.

As others have said this is a drop in the ocean of social media abuse. People receive abuse every day and youngsters are groomed and bullied. It's horrendous and a massive problem for society in general. It all goes back to people being able to open online social media accounts with no accountability and no identification. If everyone had posted as themselves from the start this would never have happened. It would have required authorisation to identify you by your real name and location (not full postal address), but this never happened and so we are where we are.
Instead people can have an unlimited number of social media accounts in any name they choose, with no idea who they actually are. It's no surprise this is abused by nasty people.

Thanks for your comments doodledog and mollygo. I really don’t know what the answer is to these people who anonymously make abusive comments. They are cowards whereas the young men who put themselves forward last night to take the penalties should be applauded. They have my utmost respect. We can only hope that future technology will be able to successfully track these people down and prosecute them.

How could the UK control Facebook and Twitter when they're not UK owned or registered?

We could block the sites, but at the risk of becoming like China.

People would just find sites on the dark web, which most people wouldn't even know about.

It's terrible. Do they think they could have done better? One of the teams had to lose. They should be praising the team for getting so far and giving it their best. People need to bring themselves under control.

Gwyneth, boycotting social media-in an ideal world, yes! But SM is like GN, in that users would just go back to see if there’s a response and then post something else.

I doubt it, Gwyneth. They would form an echo chamber, as their fellow racists wouldn't join the boycott.

I haven't seen any of it (and don't want to), but I can imagine, and it sickens me. Those boys are so young, and must feel bad enough today without having to know about that sort of thing.

I think that a massive effort should be put into finding the people doing it, and that they should be punished. The moron who attacked Chris Whitty was named, shamed and sacked - maybe that sort of thing would work, so long as they didn't become 'heroes' to their own kind of mouth-breathing pondlife. I know it's not easy, but it's perfectly possible to make posting racist abuse a crime. What is 'abuse' must already have been defined in law, so we could use that definition as a baseline.

I am uneasy about limiting free speech online, and about people being traced by government agencies. I also accept that it is the thin end of a wedge that opens the door, but this needs to be stamped out, as do other forms of trolling, doxxing and dragging that make people's lives miserable.

I have not seen anything but how awful and of course there needs to be better regulation of the laws surrounding discrimination but not just on social media, as a whole.

GrannyGravy13

25Avalon it’s definitely a problem with school bullying on line. It used to be that the youngsters home/bedroom were safe from these bullying cowards
Nowadays the abuse continues online, I wish those being bullied could be strong enough emotionally not to look online, unfortunately several children have taken their lives due to cyber and school bullying.

Yes and in many cases the children who drove the unfortunate victim to suicide appear to feel no remorse whatsoever. I find that very frightening.

What is people boycotted social media? Am only throwing the question out to see what posters think. If the people who post such abuse knew that their vile posts were not getting a response would they stop?

25Avalon it’s definitely a problem with school bullying on line. It used to be that the youngsters home/bedroom were safe from these bullying cowards
Nowadays the abuse continues online, I wish those being bullied could be strong enough emotionally not to look online, unfortunately several children have taken their lives due to cyber and school bullying.

Alegrias I take on board what you are saying. It is a massive problem. There are libel and slander laws where the originator is easily identifiable. On Social Media abusers seem to think they are protected by anonymity. Not only that they can soon send things viral which makes things even worse for their victim. At least with the football plenty have tweeted their support. But what if you are a youngster at school being victimised in this way?

It is a problem for society.

Alegrias1 parler is an odd thing, I have resisted looking at it so I can only go on anecdotal reports.

Gareth Southgate has just said at the press conference this morning that a fair few of the accounts spouting racist abuse have been tracked to be abroad.

No excuse, I agree with Alegrias1 all the social media platforms can do is suspend the accounts of these people, unfortunately they will be up and running under a different name as soon as.

growstuff ?

One of my US FB friends joined Parler. Not a friend any more.

I doubt if Facebook or Twitter can be anything other than reactive, apart from well-known people like Trump. For all anyone knows, Trump already has hundreds of aliases. There are actually worse social media platforms than Twitter and Facebook. Some of them even boast about allowing uncensored "free speech".

I think the important thing is that people stand up to it and let themselves be counted. I've been following Darren Grimes this morning (if you don't already know, he's a well-known twerp), who made derogatory, racist comments and who has been criticised and mocked by hundreds. Such losers will probably always be amongst us.

The important thing is that this country regains some moral standards, which I feel have sadly slipped.

GG13 there are other threads on the football game. This social media abuse is rife across all society, not just football, and it is social media as a whole that I find alarming.

I'm with WWM2 Serious question.

How do you all propose Social Media do this?

They delete offensive posts, they suspend accounts, they report the worst offenders to the authorities.

What else should they do?

Please bear your answer in mind next time a GNer gets banned from this platform and everyone wants them back.

Also the people forcing their way into Wembley without tickets. They could have caused a serious accident if someone had fallen, the knock on effects could have resulted in serious injury or even deaths. I hope they were arrested.

Yes social media do need to stop this . Absolutely disgusting racial abuse to young men who had done their best. Their distraught faces after not being able to shoot home was enough to bring me to tears.

Disgusting, they are not football fans I am sorry to say they are the dregs of society

Let’s not let the idiots take the light away from the young England Team, upwards and onwards to the World Cup 2022.

(A whole different thread needed for Qatar World Cup, the abuse of immigrant workers and so many deaths to build the Stadia in a Country not known for equality)

Time those spouting such vile hate were controlled. It is blaming the messenger not the message.

They cancelled Trump’s account. It is not free speech to be vile and abusive. Trolling and online bullying has resulted in mental health issues for many, some of whom have self harmed or even committed suicide as a consequence. It needs to be brought under control. Twitter and Facebook need to be more accountable. There needs to be governance.

Facebook (and probably the others) have hordes of people reviewing "unacceptable" content. Its so bad that some of them only stick with the job for short periods because they can't stand it.

What more should they do?

And before you answer, recall how many people on GN complain loudly when their posts are deleted because their "free speech" is being eroded. Should GN be held accountable for them?