Henry quits ‘toxic’ social media over racist abuse

THIERRY HENRY will step away from social media until the platforms start taking racism seriously. The Arsenal legend, 43, says he will only return once companies regulate online abuse ‘with the same vigour and ferocity’ as they tackle copyright infringements. Henry, who recently left his role as Montreal Impact head coach, has 10 million followers on his Facebook page, along with 2.7m on Instagram and 2.3m on Twitter. Henry said: ‘I will be removing myself from social media until the people in power are able to regulate their platforms with the same vigour and ferocity that they do when you infringe copyright. ‘The sheer volume of racism, bullying and resulting mental torture to individuals is too toxic to ignore. There has to be some accountability. ‘It is far too easy to create an account, use it to bully and harass without consequence and still remain anonymous. Until this changes, I will be disabling my accounts across all platforms.’

Meanwhile, Hamza Choudhury has revealed the support of his Leicester team-mates helped him cope when he received racist abuse online. Choudhury, 23, was targeted on social media after a game against Liverpool in October 2019 and his club reported the abuse to police. The midfielder said: ‘I took a screenshot and put it in our team group chat. Everyone was saying how disgusting it was. ‘They said they were sorry there were people like this. It made me feel instantly a lot better knowing that you’re not by yourself.’