UEFA is to launch a programme to battle online racist abuse of footballers by working with social media companies to eliminate unsafe substance from stages and bringing issues to light, it said on Sunday.
Europe’s soccer administering body added that the program, which will begin at the July 6-31 Women’s European Championship, will attempt to “actively monitor, report and remedy” instances of online abuse.
Britain’s Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka were the targets of online bigoted maltreatment after they missed penalties in a 3-2 shootout loss to Italy in last year’s European Championship finale.
“The respect programme targets concrete actions to prevent abusive online behaviour and discrimination during all of its final competitions, including youth, women’s and men’s competition final matches for the next three years,” UEFA said in a statement.
“To ensure that harmful content is removed, UEFA is working directly with major social media platforms such as Twitter, Meta (Instagram and Facebook) and TikTok.”
The program will incorporate a “Real Scars” crusade highlighting footballers Wendie Renard, Jorginho and Alisha Lehmann. That will “highlight the devastating effects of online abuse” and teach players, coaches and authorities on the best way to shield themselves.
“When you say something on social media, you do not realise how painful it is or the consequences it can have,” Renard said.
“It can leave a mark because we are all human, we all have emotions.”
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