Social media sites under pressure to strip anonymity from users after footballers abused

Social media companies have come under increasing pressure to remove racist abuse from their platforms after widespread outrage at the treatment of England footballers.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson met social media companies – including representatives from Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok – on Tuesday afternoon for talks focused on the fallout from England’s defeat to Italy in Sunday’s Euro 2020 final.

His spokesman said the online abuse of black players Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka “had emerged from the dark spaces of the internet”.

He said tech bosses needed to “up their game” in identifying perpetrators of abuse.

The controversy reignited calls for the government to remove online anonymity before introducing a new bill forcing social media companies to clamp down on racism.

The Online Safety Bill includes a “duty of care”, with social media companies required to take measures to tackle illegal abuse.

Ofcom, a regulator, would be given the power to fine companies that fail to take action up to £18 million ($24m).

The Centre for Digital Hate identified 105 accounts on Instagram that had directed racist abuse at Rashford, Sancho and Saka in the hours after the final.

Analysis showed 59 of those were set up outside Britain.

People across the UK spoke out in support of the footballers, including in Rashford’s home town of Withington in Manchester, where a mural of the footballer was daubed with offensive graffiti.

England footballer Harry Maguire said yesterday that social media companies should be forced to verify the identities behind every account.

“It is too easy to troll and abuse,” he said.

Britain’s opposition Labour Party called for online racists to be banned from matches.

It wants the courts to be given new powers to bring perpetrators to justice.