MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th July, 2021) UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned on Wednesday that social media giants such as Facebook and Instagram could face large fines if they fail to delete racist content after several English national soccer team players were abused online following Sunday's EURO-2020 final defeat to Italy.
Bukayo Saka, Marcus Rashford, and Jadon Sancho all faced a barrage of racist abuse online after they missed their spot kicks during Sunday's penalty shootout.
UK politicians have condemned the abuse, and Johnson told parliament that his government would levy tough sanctions against social networks that fail to tackle the problem.
"Last night, I met representatives of Facebook, of Twitter, of TikTok, of Snapchat, of Instagram, and I made it absolutely clear to them that we will legislate to address this problem ... and unless they get hate and racism off their platforms, they will face fines amounting to 10% of their global revenues," Johnson stated.
The prime minister also said that the government would take action to ensure that fans who are found guilty of sending racist messages to soccer players would face lifetime bans from attending games.
"I repeat that I utterly condemn and abhor the racist outpourings that we saw on Sunday night, and so what we're doing is today taking practical steps to ensure that the football banning order regime is changed so that if you are guilty of racist abuse online of footballers, then you will not be going to the match. No ifs, no buts, no exemptions, and no excuses," Johnson said.
Tyrone Mings, a member of the English national team at EURO-2020, accused Home Secretary Priti Patel on Monday of "stoking the fire" of racism after she criticized English soccer players for "taking the knee" before games. Patel described the act as "gesture politics."
"Taking the knee" gained notoriety back in 2016 after several National Football League (NFL) players, most notably quarterback Colin Kaepernick, knelt on one knee during the US national anthem before games in protest against police brutality.
A significant number of sports teams also began to "take the knee" ahead of games following the death of George Floyd in US police custody in May 2020.
