Leading football clubs and players will be joined by a number of sporting bodies in a four-day boycott of social media platforms from Friday in a move to tackle abuse and discrimination.
The “show of solidarity against online abuse” hopes to encourage companies to take a stronger stance against racist and sexist abuse on their platforms.
Rugby union, cricket and rugby league will join football in the boycott.
It will start at 15:00 BST on Friday, and end at 23:59 BST on Monday.
“This boycott signifies our collective anger,” said Sanjay Bhandari, the chairman of anti-discrimination charity Kick it Out.
“By removing ourselves from the platforms, we are making a symbolic gesture to those with power. We need you to act. We need you to create change.”
Who is taking part?
Among the organisations boycotting Twitter, Facebook and Instagram are:
- Football: Clubs from the Premier League, English Football League, Women’s Super League, Scottish Professional Football League and Scottish women’s football; governing bodies including the Football Association, Scottish FA, Football Association of Wales and Irish Football Association; European governing body Uefa; a number of other football organisations
- Cricket: The England and Wales Cricket Board, first-class counties, women’s regional teams and the Professional Cricketers’ Association
- Rugby union: England Rugby, Scottish Rugby, Welsh Rugby, France Rugby, Premiership Rugby, clubs and the Rugby Players’ Association
- Rugby league: The Rugby Football League, Super League Europe, Rugby League World Cup 2021 and the Rugby League Players’ Association
- Corporate bodies: Premier League and Women’s Super League sponsor Barclays, England sponsor Nationwide, Adidas; broadcasters Sky Sports, BT Sport and Talksport
British Cycling, British Horseracing, Great Britain and England Hockey, and the Lawn Tennis Association are also involved.
Seven-time Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton has joined as well as Williams driver George Russell.
“I am fully supportive of the initiative and if me doing it helps put pressure on those platforms in order to help fight against it then, for sure, I am happy to do so,” said Hamilton.
“I am really proud to hear there are so many organisations getting involved. I am not sure why Formula 1 is not a part of that.”
Formula 1 said it is “wholly committed to combatting any form of discrimination, online or otherwise” and “supports” the sporting bodies and athletes involved in the boycott.
It is understood Formula 1 is not joining the boycott as it does not experience the same abuse issues on its social media.
What have players said?
Crystal Palace winger Andros Townsend told BBC Sport players are “starting to fight back”, adding the boycott will “send a warning to these companies that if you don’t start regulating your platforms, it’s going to be an indefinite blackout”.
Watford captain Troy Deeney told BBC Breakfast the social media boycott was a “huge step”.
“For a long time now we’ve all been talking about the impact of social media on the younger generation, as well as mental health,” he said.
“I think that if we’re not going to put pressure on these huge companies to start taking accountability for some of the things that are not only said to footballers but to everyday people, we really need to start putting pressure on them and get them to be held accountable.
“I think the huge part about this is it’s only four days, it could give people a perspective of what life could be like without a huge amount of sporting stars on [social media].”
Deeney added that he receives abuse on a daily basis, which is also aimed at his partner and children.
“That’s very difficult for me to read but also not to react,” he said. “We have to not react, we’re in a privileged position but if we react on a human level, we’re the ones who will get held accountable for our reactions.”
Former West Ham, Sunderland and QPR defender Anton Ferdinand told BBC Radio 5 Live it was “sad” the fight against online abuse had got to this point, but that football was “taking no more of it”.
“There should be life bans, because we’re talking about people’s lives,” he said.
“Some people don’t get out of the slump they’re in after being abused on social media, and that can lead to people harming themselves.
“We’ve got to take this very, very seriously.”
Ferdinand also called on the UK government to do more.
“Has the energy from the government been the same as what it was when the [European] Super League was being spoken about? No it hasn’t, and that’s the disappointing thing,” he said.
“When we’re talking about pound notes and money involved, that’s when people seem to act properly, and seem to act in the right way.
“The government haven’t done that when it comes to discrimination on social media platforms, the energy isn’t the same and that is one of the reasons why the social media companies aren’t really taking heed of what is being said by the footballing bodies.”
Two years ago, a number of footballers took part in the #Enough campaign – a 24-hour social media boycott in protest at online abuse.
But players across all sports continue to be subjected to racist abuse, with some clubs contacting police over the level of aggression.
An investigation by the Professional Footballers’ Association, the players’ union, found 56 abusive posts on Twitter in November 2020.
The PFA reported them to the platform but 31 of them are still visible, which the organisation described as “absolutely unacceptable”.