[Sport] Sports bodies to boycott social media for bank holiday weekend over abuse

[rlex]

 

Leading sports bodies will begin an 81-hour boycott of social media on Friday by stepping up their demands for companies such as Facebook and Twitter to do more to stop online abuse being sent or seen.

The Premier League, English Football League and the anti-racism campaign Kick It Out are among those calling for fresh measures to tackle hate and discrimination – including a requirement for social media giants to display a warning if a user writes an abusive message, and to ask them to enter personal data if they wish to send it. They also want social media companies to have to submit a detailed quarterly report, outlining efforts they have made to prevent abuse, so they can be held more accountable.

The boycott, first announced by a large number of football clubs and players and the Football Association, covers the bank holiday weekend’s programme of fixtures, from 3pm on Friday until 11.59pm on Monday.

Other sporting bodies have since joined – including the England and Wales Cricket Board, Premiership Rugby and the Lawn Tennis Association – highlighting the need for the social media giants to do more to eradicate online hate. Lewis Hamilton gave his backing to the campaign on Thursday. Guardian Sport announced on Thursday it would take part, as did Sky Sports.

On Thursday the Uefa president, Aleksander Ceferin, also gave his unequivocal backing to the initiative, saying: “Allowing a culture of hatred to grow with impunity is dangerous, very dangerous, not only for football but for society as a whole. We’ve had enough of these cowards who hide behind their anonymity to spew out their noxious ideologies.”

Many of the organisations involved in the boycott will post a message at 9am on Friday saying: “Social media companies must do more to #StopOnlineAbuse. Join us and switch off too, as we collectively demand change.”