English soccer’s boycott of social media is spreading after FIFA and UEFA said they will join the players, clubs and organizations in a four-day protest against online abuse.
The boycott will also be joined by English cricket and rugby clubs, and the British Lawn Tennis Association, highlighting concerns that Twitter and Facebook, which also owns Instagram, aren’t doing enough to combat racist abuse on their platforms.
“FIFA supports the initiative from English football to call out discriminatory and other offensive abuse on social media,” world football’s governing body said in a statement. “This has no place in football or society more generally and we strongly condemn it.”
“We believe that authorities and social media companies should take real and effective steps to put an end to these abhorrent practices because it’s getting worse all the time and something needs to be done — and done quickly — to put a stop to it.
The social media silence will start today until late Monday evening.