Boris holds showdown with social media firms after England abuse
Boris Johnson holds showdown with social media firms demanding they ‘up their game’ as PM says details of anonymous racist trolls who abused Euro 2020 penalty missers MUST be handed over
- Players such as Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Sako were targeted
- The England stars were subjected to racist abuse online after missing penalties
- Twitter deleted 1,000 offensive posts, while Facebook called abuse ‘abhorrent’
- However ministers have urged social media firms to do more to tackle abuse
Downing Street said Boris Johnson will use a meeting with social media firms this afternoon to ‘reiterate the urgent need for action’ after the vile trolling
Boris Johnson will hold a showdown with social media firms today demanding they ‘up their game’ over racist abuse of England’s penalty missers.
Downing Street said the PM will use the meeting this afternoon to ‘reiterate the urgent need for action’ after the vile trolling.
Mr Johnson told Cabinet earlier that the racists who targeted Three Lions stars Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and teenager Bukayo Saka online had emerged from ‘the darkest recesses of the Internet’.
Ministers are pressing platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to help in hunting down those responsible so they can ‘make an example’ of them.
The premier’s spokesman said: ‘We expect social media firms to do everything they can to identify these people.’
It is not yet clear what firms are taking part in the discussion, which was apparently in the diary before the row erupted.
The trio were targeted after missing their penalties as England suffered Euro 2020 final heartache against Italy.
Twitter says it has since banned more than 1,000 posts following a flurry of abusive messages aimed at England stars.
Facebook, which owns Instagram, also described the online attacks as ‘abhorrent’ and said its team were working to remove the comments.
But Government is pushing social media companies to hand over details of abusive users to the authorities in a ‘more timely manner’.
England defender Harry Maguire and Love Island presenter Laura Whitmore are among the high-profile figures who have called for ID to be required when opening a social media account.
Ministers want social media giants to help in hunting down the online trolls who targeted England’s football stars with vile racist abuse
Government chiefs reportedly want tech firms such as Facebook and Twitter to hand over details in a bid to track down those behind the sickening slurs and ‘make an example’ of them. Pictured: The vile abuse suffered by England star Saka on Sunday night
Facebook, which owns Instagram (pictured: Library image), described the online attacks as ‘abhorrent’ and said its team were working to remove the comments
Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden (pictured) yesterday called on social media companies to ‘up their game’ when it comes to tackling abuse
‘You are not fans. We do not want you’: England captain Harry Kane joins manager Gareth Southgate’s condemnation of those behind racist abuse
Harry Kane tonight sent a clear message to those behind the vile racist abuse of England stars in the wake of last night’s heartbreaking Euro 2020 final defeat by saying: ‘We don’t want you.’
The England skipper condemned the abuse aimed at Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho, and Bukayo Saka as ‘vile’, adding that the players, who were seen visibly distraught after missing penalties in the shoot-out defeat to Italy, ‘deserve support and backing’.
And in a stinging message, he called out those behind the messages, saying they were ‘not England fans’.
In a strongly-worded post on Twitter, the striker said: ‘Three lads who were brilliant all summer had the courage to step up and take a pen when the stakes were high.
‘They deserve support and backing not the vile racist abuse they’ve had since last night. If you abuse anyone on social media you’re not an England fan and we don’t want you.’
It comes as England manager Gareth Southgate this morning savaged the abuse of his players as ‘unforgivable’ after they were trolled by racists overnight.
He blasted mindless social media morons who bombarded Saka, Rashford and Sancho with vile slurs after the heartbreaking defeat at Wembley last night.
The England boss hit out after Prince William and the Prime Minister branded the abuse unacceptable and sickening after the defeat.
Southgate said: ‘I am sickened by the racist abuse aimed at England players after last night’s match. It is totally unacceptable that players have had to endure this abhorrent behaviour. I must stop now and all those involved should be held accountable.
‘For some of them to be abused is unforgivable really. I know a lot of that has come from abroad, that people who track those things have been able to explain that, but not all of it.
‘It’s just not what we stand for.’
‘We want real-life consequences for the people who are tweeting this abuse,’ a source told the Times.
‘We need to find out who these people are and make examples of them. This is not beyond their (social media firms’) capabilities.’
It comes after players including Saka, who is just 19 years old, were targeted with a torrent of racial abuse after England’s heartbreaking defeat at Wembley.
The Arsenal star looked visibly distraught after missing the decisive penalty on Sunday night and was comforted by senior England players such as Harry Kane and manager Gareth Southgate.
But after the game finished, social media users targeted the young star, who is black, with monkey emojis. Another wrote: ‘Hate you’.
Twitter yesterday revealed how it has removed more than 1,000 racist posts targeting England football stars following the defeat.
A spokesperson for the social media site said: ‘The abhorrent racist abuse directed at England players last night has absolutely no place on Twitter.
‘In the past 24 hours, through a combination of machine learning based automation and human review, we have swiftly removed over 1,000 Tweets and permanently suspended a number of accounts for violating our rules – the vast majority of which we detected ourselves proactively using technology.
‘We will continue to take action when we identify any Tweets or accounts that violate our policies.
‘We have proactively engaged and continue to collaborate with our partners across the football community to identify ways to tackle this issue collectively and will continue to play our part in curbing this unacceptable behaviour – both online and offline.’
Facebook meanwhile told MailOnline: ‘No one should have to experience racist abuse anywhere, and we don’t want it on Instagram.
‘We quickly removed comments and accounts directing abuse at England’s footballers last night and we’ll continue to take action against those that break our rules.
‘In addition to our work to remove this content, we encourage all players to turn on Hidden Words, a tool which means no one has to see abuse in their comments or DMs.
‘No one thing will fix this challenge overnight, but we’re committed to keeping our community safe from abuse.’
Despite the strong words, the social media sites faced pressure to get a grip on racist abuse or face punitive action in the wake of sickening abuse aimed at black England footballers.
Royalty, leading politicians including the Prime Minister and even the Archbishop of Canterbury slammed trolls who targeted stars such as Rashford, Sancho and Saka after last night’s Euro 2020 heartbreak.
Julian Knight, chairman of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, said: ‘The Government needs to get on with legislating the tech giants’
England ace Tyrone Mings slams Priti Patel after she condemns attacks on Three Lions stars
England star Tyrone Mings last night launched an astonishing broadside at Priti Patel by accusing the Home Secretary of ‘stoking the fire’ of racism by labelling the team’s taking of the knee as ‘gesture politics’.
The Three Lions ace said the Conservative minister had ‘no right’ to condemn the online abuse against fellow stars Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka.
The trio faced a barrage of vile comments from racist online trolls after missing penalties in last night’s heartbreaking Euro 2020 final defeat to Italy.
Today Ms Patel described the abuse of England’s stars as ‘disgusting’, as she joined the nationwide condemnation of those behind the messages.
But, replying to the Tweet, the England defender said: ‘You don’t get to stoke the fire at the beginning of the tournament by labelling our anti-racism message as ‘Gesture Politics’ and then pretend to be disgusted when the very thing we’re campaigning against, happens.’
The Home Secretary had said prior to the tournament that she ‘did not support’ those engaging in ‘that type of gesture politics’, when asked if she supported stars taking the knee.
And she said it was up to fans whether they booed the gesture during England’s Euro 2020 campaign.
Police are now investigating but social media firsts have come under presser to take swifter and more decisive action against offenders.
Julian Knight, chairman of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, said: ‘The racist abuse of England players online is repellent and vile.
‘Perpetrators should be getting a knock on the door from the police and facing the full force of the law.
‘Social media companies once alerted to this abuse have an acute responsibility to immediately take it down.
‘The Government needs to get on with legislating the tech giants. Enough of the foot dragging, all those who suffer at the hand of racists, not just England players, deserve better protections now.’
Boris Johnson said he felt ‘sad and rueful’ this morning, but thanked Gareth Southgate and the England team for ‘lifting our spirits and bringing joy to our country’.
And he took a strong line in condemning the racist online trolls, saying: ‘Shame on you – I hope you crawl back under the stone from which you emerged.’
Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said yesterday that he shared the anger at the abuse, adding: ‘Social media companies need to up their game in addressing it and, if they fail to, our new Online Safety Bill will hold them to account with fines of up to 10 per cent of global revenue.’
The Bill will put a new legal duty of care on online companies to protect their UK users from harm, including people receiving abusive comments, threats and harassment online.
However, it has also faced criticism over fears that it risks stifling the free press, ‘silencing marginalised voices’ and introducing ‘state-backed censorship on a scale never seen in a liberal democracy’.
Campaigners warned that in its draft form it could also be used to target wider freedom of expression including from the media – and could even result in blanket bans for publishers.
Ofcom will be in charge of regulating social media firms, with the power to issue fines up to £18million and block access for repeat offences.
A mural honouring England star Marcus Rashford was vandalised less than an hour after last night’s Euro 2020 final defeat
Marcus Rashford, left, and Jadon Sancho have their heads in their hands after missing their kicks
One user wrote under the latest Instagram picture of Saka (pictured), 19: ‘Go back to Nigeria.’ While another said: ‘Get out my country’
England’s Kalvin Phillips embraces a member of the England staff and Mason Mount waves as the team prepare to head to their homes after a month in their team bubble
The aim is to make Britain one of the safest places to be online in the world – especially for children.
Home Secretary Priti Patel said yesterday social media companies ‘can no longer ignore’ racist and vile abuse on their platforms.
She told the Commons: ‘Social media companies, in particular, have a clear responsibility for the content that they host on their platforms and they can no longer ignore some of the appalling, vile, racist, violent and hateful content that appears on their platforms.’
Instagram claims monkey emojis ‘DON’T breach race rules’ as Twitter removes 1,000 racist posts after appalling abuse of England stars – and MPs say social media firms need to do more
Instagram users reporting racist comments directed at black England football stars after Sunday night’s Euro 2020 defeat claim the social media site has failed to remove monkey emojis, because they ‘don’t breach the rules’.
Conscientious social media users launched into ‘hour-long’ mass reporting sessions in order to flag the abusive posts – directed at Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka – to moderators.
But the Instagram users say they later received messages back from the Facebook-owned site saying the posts will not be removed.
The messages from Instagram say the posts reported by the users are ‘not in breach’ of its community guidelines.
Fans have since taken to Twitter – which today revealed it had removed 1,000 racists posts – to share their anger at Instagram’s decision.
One user, Emily May, said on Twitter: ‘I’ve spent an hour today reporting racist accounts. But according to Instagram monkey emojis and the N word are okay.’
Another said: ‘Instagram said that the banana and ape and monkey comments on Saka’s photo weren’t against community guidelines. Come get your algorithm, Instagram.’
Today Instagram’s owner Facebook condemned the abuse and said the site was ‘committed to keeping our community safe from abuse’.
It is understood the site takes ‘context’ into account when reviewing content containing emojis that could be ‘mundane’.
But a spokesperson told MailOnline that the emojis ‘definitely do’ breach Instagram’s guidelines when used as they have been against England’s football stars.
Royalty, leading politicians including the Prime Minister and even the Archbishop of Canterbury slammed trolls who targeted Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho (pictured) and Bukayo Sako after last night’s Euro 2020 heartbreak.
Meanwhile, Times Radio journalist Kait Borsay, suggested that it may be ‘harder’ for Instagram’s reporting system to pick up the comments as easily due to them being ’emojis’ rather than written words.
Facebook accepted that its automated system may struggle to pick up these emojis, but that, if reported, such comments would be passed to one of its 35,000 moderators to review – and would be in breach of community guidelines.
A spokesperson told MailOnline: ‘No one should have to experience racist abuse anywhere, and we don’t want it on Instagram.
‘We quickly removed comments and accounts directing abuse at England’s footballers last night and we’ll continue to take action against those that break our rules.
‘In addition to our work to remove this content, we encourage all players to turn on Hidden Words, a tool which means no one has to see abuse in their comments or DMs.
‘No one thing will fix this challenge overnight, but we’re committed to keeping our community safe from abuse.’
It comes as Twitter today revealed how it has removed more than 1,000 racist posts targeting England football stars following last night’s penalty shoot-out defeat to Italy at Wembley.
A spokesperson for the social media site said: ‘The abhorrent racist abuse directed at England players last night has absolutely no place on Twitter.
‘In the past 24 hours, through a combination of machine learning based automation and human review, we have swiftly removed over 1,000 Tweets and permanently suspended a number of accounts for violating our rules – the vast majority of which we detected ourselves proactively using technology.
‘We will continue to take action when we identify any Tweets or accounts that violate our policies.
‘We have proactively engaged and continue to collaborate with our partners across the football community to identify ways to tackle this issue collectively and will continue to play our part in curbing this unacceptable behaviour – both online and offline.’
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