IT’S TIME FOR THE BIG BOYS TO BACK BOYCOTT

YOU can launch as many campaigns as you want. You can take a knee, raise a fist, or pointedly refuse to do either.

But the only way to ensure social media companies tackle racist abuse is for the game’s big hitters to join the boycott led by Swansea and Birmingham.

So vast is the income of Instagram, Facebook and Twitter that it is difficult to quantify the monetary value of Premier League teams and their players. But it is certainly not inconsequential to companies for whom 98 per cent of revenue is derived from advertising.

Engagement - that’s views and clicks - is the lifeblood of social media. Without it, advertisers would not be interested, and famous names drive engagement like little else.

Take The Rock, AKA Dwayne Johnson. Due to his 223m Instagram following, the former wrestler and Hollywood actor can charge advertisers £1m per post to endorse their products.

It is reasonable to deduce that his presence on the platform is worth as much or more to Instagram itself.

Football has nobody to rival The Rock, but Manchester United boast 25 million followers on Twitter, 40 million on Instagram and 73 million on Facebook. If they suddenly vanished - along with others - so would a lot of advertising.

It would be painful, of course. Last year, Premier League clubs made a combined £3.3m from posts on social media, and leverage the platforms to reach a vast global audience. Players, too, collect annual six-figure sums from Instagram.

But whilst the profits are churning, the tech giants will pay nothing but lip service to the fight against online abuse. Only by hitting the bottom line will they actually act.

So fine, take a knee. But the reality is every club and player who uses those platforms is betraying all of those who suffer at their hands.