Phil SumblerThe EFL have issued a statement welcoming the announcement of the Online Safety Bill outlined in today’s Queen’s speech to Parliament but have called on social media companies to recognise the impact of their inaction and to take moral responsibility by acting now to address abuse on their platforms before regulation is in place.
Football – and Swansea City in particular – have led the way in recent weeks with boycotts of social media for a period of time following some sickening abuse of players (and non players alike) from a small but vocal section of society who feel it is OK to use these platforms as a vehicle of their hate.
Jamal Lowe, Yan Dhanda, Morgan Whittaker and Ben Cabango have all been on the receiving end of some abuse with the Swans supporting them by being the first club to boycott the platforms for a period before a much bigger boycott a little over a week ago that was followed by many sports.
And with the announcement of the Online Safety Bill, the EFL issued a statement today which read “Social media companies must be held to account for protecting their users. It is therefore vital that any legislative and regulatory frameworks are robust and effective in requiring social media companies to do more to prevent, detect and remove discriminatory abuse from their platforms. This opportunity must be seized to ensure that individuals and communities are protected from toxic online abuse.
The recent boycott of social media, which was led by English football and supported by other sports, international governing bodies, businesses, charities and individuals worldwide, showed that we have collectively had enough. Today’s announcement represents progress, and we welcome the opportunity to continue working with Government to ensure measures are put in place as quickly as possible.”
The last part of that statement is the clearest part in that these measures must be put in place as quickly as possible because it is clear that without them this issue will not go away and others will be subjected to the abhorrent abuse that is out there.
