Soccer-English Leagues Announce Social Media Boycott in Stand Against Online Racism

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.