Missing penalties in a major international football final was bad enough for three Black players on England바카라s national team. Being subjected to a torrent of racial abuse on social media in the aftermath made it even worse. (More Football News)
A report last year from FIFA, the governing body of world football, showed that more than 50% of players competing in two international tournaments in 2021.
Missing penalties in a major international football final was bad enough for three Black players on England바카라s national team. Being subjected to a torrent of racial abuse on social media in the aftermath made it even worse. (More Football News)
Monkey emojis. Being told to go home. The N-word.
The even sadder part? Everyone knew it was coming.
바카라It바카라s stupid,바카라 said Nedum Onuoha, a retired Black player who was in the top divisions of English and U.S. football for 16 years. 바카라But are we surprised?바카라
It바카라s the latest form of racism: technology-fueled, visual, permanently intrusive and 24/7 바카라 a haunting reminder of the 1980s-style monkey chants and banana-throwing in a social media era.
And it is spiraling out of control on platforms where anonymity is the golden ticket for racists.
바카라Every time it happens, it knocks you back and floors you,바카라 Onuoha told The Associated Press. 바카라Just when you think everything is OK, it바카라s a reminder that it바카라s not. It바카라s a reminder of how some people actually see you.바카라
Racism is the predominant form of abuse on social media reported to Kick It Out, an anti-discrimination campaigner in football, according to statistics compiled over the past three seasons in English football.
A report last year from FIFA, the governing body of world football, showed that more than 50% of players competing in two international tournaments in 2021 바카라 the African Cup of Nations and the European Championship 바카라 received some form of discriminatory abuse in more than 400,000 posts on social media. More than a third were of a racist nature.
The problem is, there바카라s barely any accountability and it바카라s so easy. Pull out your phone, find the handle of the player you want to abuse, and fire off a racist message.
Former Premier League striker Mark Bright, who is Black and regularly suffered racial abuse inside stadiums in the 1980s, was exchanging messages with friends on a WhatsApp group when those three Black players for England 바카라 Bukayo Saka, Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho 바카라 missed penalties in a shootout loss to Italy in the 2020 European Championship final.
바카라We all messaged each other and said, 바카라Oh God, here we go.바카라 Because we know what바카라s around the corner,바카라 Bright told the AP. 바카라That바카라s what we expected and this is where, once again, you say 바카라What can be done about it?바카라바카라
Largely speaking, the abuse hasn바카라t stopped Black players from using social media. It is an essential tool for marketing, leading to the paradox of football players using the same platforms on which they are abused.
Kylian Mbappe, who has 104 million followers on Instagram and more than 12 million followers on Twitter, was subjected to racial abuse along with fellow Black teammate Kingsley Coman after their French national team lost in the 2022 World Cup final to Argentina.
Real Madrid winger Vinícius Júnior, who has repeatedly been the target of racial insults, is followed by 38 million people on Instagram and nearly 7 million on Twitter.
Saka, who has more than 1 million followers on Twitter, remains on social media despite the abuse after England바카라s Euro 2020 loss and more just a few weeks ago, when a message posted on Twitter showed the Arsenal winger with his face made to look like a monkey, alongside the words: 바카라This clown has cost us the league.바카라 Minutes before the message, Saka had missed a penalty in an important Premier League game.
With social media continuing to fuel abuse, players and teams are coming up with ways to both raise awareness and reduce their exposure to offensive users.
GoBubble is a company that configures AI software to act as a filter to stop discriminatory comments from being seen by a social media user. It has customers from the Premier League down to the fourth division in English football, around Europe and in Australia.
바카라Yes, tech has caused the issue,바카라 GoBubble founder Henry Platten told the AP, 바카라but tech can actually solve the issue and this is what we are seeing as one of those pieces of the jigsaw.바카라
The company바카라s AI technology is plugged into players바카라 accounts and scans for toxic and potentially harmful words, images and other types of messages which can be filtered out using a traffic-light system.
바카라This isn바카라t about censorship, about sportswashing, about creating that fuzzy world,바카라 Platten said. 바카라This is about protection, not just for the players and their families but also the wider fan community.바카라
Platten said some players who approached him had experienced mental health issues that impacted their performances. Indeed, in January, Liverpool became the first Premier League club to hire a mental health consultant tasked with protecting young players from online trolling.
Governing bodies are reacting, too. During last year바카라s World Cup in Qatar, FIFA and players바카라 union FIFPRO had a dedicated in-tournament moderation service that prevented racist and other forms of hate speech from being seen online by players and their followers. This service will be offered for the upcoming Women바카라s World Cup.
Football authorities in England, including the Premier League, led a four-day social media boycott in 2021 across Twitter, Facebook and Instagram in a protest against racist abuse. It ended up being adopted by many other sports in England, and by FIFA and UEFA, the governing body of European football.
Still, the abuse continues on the platforms, which have been accused of being too slow to block racist posts, remove offenders바카라 accounts, and improve their verification process to ensure users provide accurate identification information and are barred from registering with a new account if banned.
바카라It needs to be regulated, you need to be accountable,바카라 Bright said. 바카라Everyone바카라s been complaining about this for a long time now. Some players have set up meetings with these social media companies. It seems to me that they바카라re not serious enough about it.바카라
So is there appetite for change within the big social media platforms?
바카라No one should have to experience racist abuse, and we don바카라t want it on our apps,바카라 Meta, which owns Instagram and Facebook, said in a statement to the AP. 바카라We take action whenever we find it and we바카라ve launched several ways to help protect people from having to see it in the first place.바카라
That includes 바카라Hidden Words,바카라 which filters offensive comments and direct messages and is on by default for creator accounts, and 바카라Limits,바카라 which hides comments and DMs from people who don바카라t follow you or only followed you recently, the statement said.
바카라We know no one thing will fix abusive behavior,바카라 Meta said, 바카라but we바카라re committed to continuing working closely with the football industry to help keep our apps a safe place for footballers and fans.바카라
Twitter responded with an automated reply of a poop emoji when the AP reached out for comment.
For GoBubble founder Platten, platforms are striking a balance between keeping a large user base for revenue purposes while being seen to be tough on racism.
바카라There바카라s always going to be a position where they may move closer to solving the problem,바카라 he said, 바카라but are never going to go the full hog that we all want them to, in terms of really cracking down and solving it.바카라
Some teams and athletes are choosing alternative platforms to promote not just themselves but also more ethical behavior online.
These include Striver, a user-generated content platform backed by Roberto Carlos and Gilberto Silva 바카라 both World Cup winners with Brazil in 2002. And PixStory, a platform with nearly 1 million users which ranks them according to the integrity of their posts and aims to create 바카라clean social바카라 by prioritizing safety in a way big tech companies are not doing.
England바카라s Arsenal club, Italy바카라s Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain바카라s women바카라s team are collaborating with PixStory, whose founder, Appu Esthose Suresh, says teams and athletes are in a 바카라Catch-22 situation.바카라
바카라They want to live in this space because it바카라s a way to reach out and interact with their fans, but there바카라s not enough safety,바카라 Suresh told the AP. 바카라There is an alternative way 바카라 and that바카라s change the business model.바카라
Ultimately, the biggest change will likely come through legislation. Last month, the European Union clinched an agreement in principle on the Digital Services Act, which will force big tech companies to better protect European users from harmful online content or be punished with billions of dollars in fines for noncompliance. In Britain, the government has proposed the Online Safety Bill, with potential fines amounting to 10% of the platforms바카라 annual global turnover.
Meanwhile, the number of perpetrators of online racial abuse facing criminal charges has increased. In March, a man who abused England striker Ivan Toney was banned from every football stadium in Britain for three years in what police described as a 바카라landmark ruling.바카라
Onuoha welcomed these developments but he바카라s still keeping his social media accounts on a private setting.
바카라There will be lots of good people who won바카라t be able to connect with me but it바카라s a consequence of not having enough trust and faith in enough good people being allowed to enter the account,바카라 he said. 바카라It바카라s the 1% who offset the entire experience.바카라