- The Prime Minister is calling on tech companies to step up their response to tackling online abuse and provide police with data on racist trolling against England players.
- The Government, Premier League and football authorities must work together to tackle online abuse against footballers ahead of the Online Safety Bill.
- Law change announced to extend football banning orders to those who commit football-related abuse on social media.
The Prime Minister has taken steps to tackle online racist abuse in football following the heinous social media attacks on black England players after the Euro 2020 final.
For the first time, the Government will change legislation to extend the use of football banning orders so that online abusers can be banned from stadiums for up to 10 years, similarly that violent thugs are prohibited from accessing the grounds.
The Government, the Premier League and football authorities will work together to tackle all aspects of online abuse that footballers face, ahead of the Online Safety Bill coming into force.
And last night the Prime Minister met executives from several social media companies in Downing Street to urge them to do more to tackle online abuse.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said:
I was appalled by the abhorrent insults directed at a number of our footballers in the aftermath of Sunday’s match. More needs to be done to stop people being bullied and trolled online.
We are introducing legislation that will force social media companies to take responsibility and take action when this despicable behavior exists on their platforms, or face substantial financial penalties if they fail to do so.
We also work closely with the football and police authorities to ensure that we can track and take action against online abusers and ban them from football grounds in the same way as we would if they had committed these offenses on our streets.
Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said:
I have repeatedly heard footballers talk about the devastating impact of the racist abuse that floods their social media feeds at all hours of the day. It’s clear this has a profound impact on them and their young fans. Enough is enough, it’s time to clean up social media.
Tech companies know what awaits them with our tough new online safety laws, but must use their ingenuity and considerable resources to stop this racist online abuse now.
We will work with the football authorities in the coming season to drive the necessary changes, and we will ensure that these people are kept away from our national game. Social media companies must improve security measures on their sites and ensure they help authorities find and punish these racist attackers. It is time for them to step up their efforts so that their platforms cannot be used as weapons of hate.
Football banning orders and online communications
Given the impact that this online racist language is having on football, we do not believe that those involved should be allowed to attend football matches. We will therefore extend football banning orders to those who abuse football on social media.
A football banning order is a civil order used as a deterrent to prevent young people from becoming involved in football-related disorder. They can last between three and ten years. The change will be made as soon as possible.
The Government will work with the Premier League and other football authorities to review recent cases of abuse of footballers online and identify what further action needs to be taken. They will examine areas such as identification and reporting, preventive and reactive action by social media companies, and cooperation with law enforcement.
This will build on the excellent work the Premier League already does to support players who are victims of abuse. An example of this is the recent successful prosecution of a man in Singapore after he sent serious online abuse towards Brighton and Hove Albion player Neal Maupay.
The government and the football community need social media companies to use all their resources to stop this abuse and better protect players.
The Online Safety Bill was published in May. This will force online businesses to combat harmful abuse on their platforms, both by preventing abuse and removing any posts that violate their usage policies. They will have to prevent repeat offenders from opening new accounts and make it easier for authorities to track down people who create anonymous accounts to abuse others. Racist abuse will be designated as a priority harm in the legislation.
If they fail to uphold their responsibilities, social media companies will face very severe sanctions, including fines of up to 10% of global turnover and, ultimately, criminal liability for executives.
Social Media Summit #10
The Prime Minister met executives from several social media companies at Downing Street to discuss the issue of online abuse.
During the discussion, the Prime Minister urged meeting participants to do more to tackle this problem, including working to trace the origins of online abuse and identify those responsible.
He highlighted the upcoming introduction of the Online Safety Bill as one of the important tools against abuse on social media, but said businesses needed to demonstrate they were taking action now.
While acknowledging some of the work that has been done to help quickly identify and eliminate some online racial abuse against a number of English football players, he urged social media companies to step up their efforts and to take responsibility for what was published on their platforms or face facing charges. other measures by the government.
