Soccer-English Leagues Announce Social Media Boycott in Stand Against Online Racism
Voice of America
England’s football authorities have joined forces to announce a social media boycott next weekend in response to continued online racist abuse of players.
The boycott will take place across a full fixture program in the men’s and women’s professional game from 3 p.m. local time (1400 GMT) on Friday to 11.59 p.m. on May 3. Clubs across the Premier League, English Football League, Women's Super League and Women’s Championship will switch off their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts to emphasize that social media companies must do more to eradicate online hate. “Racist behavior of any form is unacceptable and the appalling abuse we are seeing players receive on social media platforms cannot be allowed to continue,” Premier League CEO Richard Masters said in a statement.Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a camp for internally displaced people in Rafah on May 27, 2024. Fire rages following an Israeli strike on an area designated for displaced Palestinians, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, in this still picture taken from a video, May 26, 2024. Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a camp for internally displaced people in Rafah on May 27, 2024. A member of the bomb squad of the Israeli police collects debris after a rocket fired by Palestinian militants struck in the Israeli city of Herzliya on May 26, 2024.
Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili, right, and Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, left, leave a podium after marking Independence Day in Tbilisi, Georgia, May 26, 2024. Demonstrators with Georgian national and EU flags rally during an opposition protest against a foreign influence bill as they mark their country's Independence Day, in the center of in Tbilisi, Georgia, May 26, 2024.