Marcus forces social media giants to act on racist abuse
FURIOUS Manchester United star Marcus Rashford has branded racist trolls abusing him as “humanity and social media at its worst”.
And Facebook and Instagram have revealed they have removed accounts belonging to those spouting vile remarks at the England striker.
Rashford, 23, took to Twitter after Saturday’s 0-0 draw with Arsenal to alert the public to a sudden spate of vile messages sent to him.
But the food poverty campaigner refused to take screenshots of the messages as “it would be irresponsible to do so”.
He said: “Yes I’m a black man and I live every day proud that I am.
“No one, or no one comment, is going to make me feel any different.
“So sorry if you were looking for a strong reaction, you’re just simply not going to get it here. I’m not sharing screenshots. It would be irresponsible to do so and as you can imagine there’s nothing original in them.
“I have beautiful children of all colours following me and they don’t need to read it. Beautiful colours that should only be celebrated.”
Facebook, which owns Instagram, said: “We have taken action in this case by removing accounts and comments and are continuing to investigate.
There is no place for racism on Instagram and we are committed to removing it when we find it. .”
The messages follow a string of racist rants against other stars, including Chelsea’s Reece James, West Brom’s Romaine Sawyers, and United’s Axel Tuanzebe and Anthony Martial.
Chelsea and the England football team have also joined calls for social media companies to tackle trolls.
Greater Manchester Police said they are taking the incidents seriously.
The force said: “Nobody should be subject to such abuse. These hateful words have no place anywhere in our society whether online or otherwise.”
Ex-Birmingham and Crystal Palace striker Clinton Morrison backed the
star’s decision not to share the screenshot. He said: “Don’t air what they put because that’s what they want.”
The Football Association has vowed to work with the Government and social media platforms to eradicate racist abuse from their platforms.
It said: “We are united with all of football in our abhorrence of racist abuse. This is not acceptable.”
West Midlands Police said a 49-yearold man from Kingswinford has been quizzed over the abuse of Sawyers.
Ex-Huddersfield star Iffy Onuora, 53, is set to become the Premier League’s first head of equality, diversity and inclusion.