Stars’ online racism boycott

PREMIER LEAGUE stars have boycotted social media for 24 hours in protest at racist abuse. Aaron Ramsey, Marcus Rashford, Jesse Lingard and Hector Bellerin were among those supporting the PFA’s #Enough campaign, which was praised by FIFA and the world players’ union. Manchester United posted a message saying: ‘#Enough. Timeline or touchline, no one should have to face discrimination. #allred allequal’ There was widespread support from players and clubs in the Football League and in Europe, from female footballers plus non-League footballers and former players. Gary Lineker tweeted: ‘Great to see footballers using their significant platforms for good. Well played. #enough’ Facebook and Instagram responded by declaring their commitment to tackling the problem. A Facebook spokesman said: ‘There is no place for racism or abusive behaviour on Facebook. ‘We will remove hate speech or credible threats of any kind, and we encourage anyone who sees content they find offensive to report it so we can remove anything that breaks our Community Standards.’ A Twitter spokesman said they are now suspending three times more abusive accounts within 24 hours of receiving a report than they were at this time last year.