Bale calls on stars to boycott social media

GARETH BALE has suggested sports stars should stage a mass boycott of social media until companies clamp down on abuse.

The Wales captain’s team-mates Rabbi Matondo and Ben Cabango received racist messages on Instagram after Saturday’s 1-0 friendly win over Mexico.

Police are looking into the matter and Facebook, which owns Instagram, says it has permanently removed the trolls’ accounts.

But Bale thinks it may now be time for footballers and other famous people to take a stand by coming off social media, just like Arsenal and France legend Thierry Henry did last week.

‘If everyone came together and decided to boycott social media to make a statement... if everybody did it at once, not just one or two, but a campaign where a lot of influential people in sport and in other walks of life came off, then I definitely think it could help. If that is the case, I am all for that,’ said Bale ahead of tonight’s World Cup qualifier against the Czech Republic, for which Tyler Roberts, Hal Robson-Kanu and Matondo will be missing after breaking team curfew.

Professional footballers in England and Wales boycotted social media for 24 hours in April 2019 in protest at how companies and football authorities were responding to racism.

But this season has seen a host of high-profile players targeted online, with data collected by the Premier League showing that seven out of ten cases come from users who live outside the UK. The international nature of the problem makes it harder for trolls to be punished by the law, but Bale is backing calls for tech giants to introduce some form of identity verification instead.

Bale (right) said: ‘Something needs to happen in terms of the social media companies, a passport maybe, because then you’d be able to chase them down and hold them accountable for what they are saying. ‘At the moment, people can create an account, say something, delete it, then you never know who they are or where they are from. That would stop people saying these horrible things.’ Wales are looking to get their first win in their Qatar qualifying campaign after losing in Belgium last week — with Bale hinting the 2022 World Cup could be his last major tournament if they make it. He added: ‘There’s no hiding we are getting older and possibly it is the last campaign.

‘If it is then it won’t change my mindset. I’m going to be 100-percent committed, like always.’

The absence of Roberts, Robson-Kanu and Matondo — sent home from camp yesterday having been caught out of their hotel rooms after curfew following Saturday night’s match against Mexico — is not ideal preparation for tonight’s game against the Czechs, who drew against Belgium on Saturday.

Although the players did not break Covid-19 protocols, the breach of squad discipline was deemed serious enough for caretaker manager Robert Page to release them from the group.