We won’t stop anonymity for online abusers
Californian tech giants insist they will let cowardly racists hide behind fake accounts
TWITTER and Facebook have made it clear to Premier League clubs that they will never end the practice of allowing users to open anonymous accounts and that using forms of identification to verify them will not happen.
Instead, the social media giants will continue to toughen up the policing of online abuse inhouse using their own technology.
It will be a huge disappointment to many players but that reality has already been accepted by the Government in preparing the Online Harms Bill, which attempts to strike a balance between freedom of speech and tackling abuse. And it has been tacitly acknowledged by many football executives, who have concluded they don’t have the leverage to force change on Twitter and Facebook.
One said that the ability to open anonymous accounts is a ‘red line’ for the social media giants and that had been made clear to clubs.
‘We have good operational relations with Twitter and Instagram, they will remove content quickly and offer a bespoke service to clubs, whereas an ordinary member of public might take two weeks to get a complaint heard,’ said one. ‘But it is clear ... anonymous accounts is a red line. They won’t give that up.’
Another executive said: ‘Big though football is, we’re just a speck on the horizon for social media companies. We’re not that important and they’re currently dealing with interference in national elections, terrorism and antivaxxers in the middle of a pandemic. It’s very hard to get football’s issues up the agenda.’
Football bodies, including the Premier League, issued a joint statement last week, calling on Facebook and Twitter to improve measures for verifying accounts, blocking abuse with filters and taking down accounts.
Bristol Rovers Mark Little, who experienced racial abuse on Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, has added his voice to those calls writing in The Mail on Sunday today. The Daily Mail reported that Twitter had rejected the demand to act pre-emptively and block abuse using automated software scanning as it would be impractical and a restraint on free speech. However, the same technology is used by Twitter and Instagram, and asks users if they want to post if abuse is suspected.
And despite football’s calls for ‘improved verification process that ... allows for accurate identification of the person behind the account’, most accept there is no easy way of insisting on a ban on anonymous accounts. Many believe it is just a question of money, concurring with the view of Chelsea’s Antonio Rudiger, who after experiencing abuse, told The Mail on Sunday last week: ‘If more people are making accounts, I think they [social media firms] make money off it.’
Social media companies argue that it violates the free speech functions of technology. Given the global scale of social media and its importance in political uprisings, such as the Arab Spring, it is clear that companies will never insist on users identifying themselves.
Football authorities are now focussing their efforts on persuading Facebook and Twitter to be more open about their ability to identify the Internet Protocol address, which identifies the computer which sent the address and its location. However, reporting IP addresses to the police is likely to be a step too far for the tech giants. While emphasising this week that they cooperate with authorities, the focus is on Facebook and Twitter self-policing.
There were fresh claims yesterday that Facebook was not doing enough when it emerged that racist abuse experienced by Swansea’s Yan Dhanda had merely resulted in the perpetrator being suspended from sending messages on Instagram for an undisclosed period. Swansea said they were: ‘shocked and surprised by the leniency shown by Facebook. The abhorrent level of abuse we have witnessed this week means that once again we seek stronger action from social media companies.’ Given that social media apps are a global phenomenon, there is a limit to what the UK Government can do. Much racial abuse comes from accounts registered abroad.
However, the Online Harms Bill will make Twitter and Instagram responsible for policing content even if it comes from abroad as long as one of the users, such as a footballer, is a UK citizen. The bill intends to bring social media firms under the auspices of broadcast regulator Ofcom, which would have the power to find tech firms £18m or 10 per cent of their annual turnover, whichever is higher.
Facebook said: ‘We are committed to tackling hate and racism’ while Twitter say they will take action to remove accounts of users who abuse their rules.