Police receive almost 600 reports of online abuse targeting England players – The Irish News

Since the start of Euro 2024, the UK Football Police Unit has received almost 600 reports of online abuse towards English players.

Figures revealed by Channel 4 News show a sharp increase in offensive posts after England’s three group matches, with the majority of posts containing racist content or language.

UKFPU confirmed that 26 cases are currently being investigated.

“Around 85 per cent of the most offensive posts we see are racist, with homophobic content a close second,” said director Mike Ankers, head of investigations at the UKFPU.

“We still use the N-word in a terrible way. They will be quite visible.

“We will also have things like the monkey emoji, which in itself is blatantly offensive. So we would take action.

“What we saw in 2022, after three black players missed penalties in 2021 (in the European Championship final), was a change in the rules which meant that online defamation became a section 1 offence, which allowed us to apply for a ban.

“The prohibition order allows us to take away probably the only thing they like, which is football, for up to 10 years. This means they can’t travel, they can’t go to the games and watch them.”

England internationals Bukayo Saka, Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho were targeted by racist online attacks after they missed penalties in a shootout against Italy three years ago, with 11 people subsequently arrested.

The UKFPU has received 102 reports of online abuse following England’s Euro 2024 opening match against Serbia, with 12 of those cases currently under investigation.

After the second match against Denmark, 292 posts were made on social media, three of which met the criteria for a police investigation.

During the last group match against Slovenia, 177 cases were reported and 11 are currently under investigation.

The UKFPU reported on Friday that before the match against Serbia scheduled for June 16, six English fans were given football bans for disturbing order in Gelsenkirchen.

Tony Burnett, chief executive of anti-racism football group Kick It Out, told Channel 4 News: “We have had more complaints of discrimination than ever before this season, which is a record number.

“This growth in particular is coming from social media. I’m not saying the police don’t do anything. I’m not saying social media organizations don’t do anything.

“But player experience and our experience working in this area shows that incidents are continuing to increase. And while that is the case, we can’t be confident and say that there is enough going on to stop it, because clearly there isn’t.”

Social media giant Meta said in a statement: “Since 2016, we have invested over $20 billion in security and quadrupled the size of our global team working in this area to approximately 40,000 people.

“This includes 15,000 content reviewers who review content across Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.”

The new Online Safety Bill will mean regulator Ofcom will be able to hold social media platforms accountable for online abuse.

Burnett added: “I really hope we win the tournament, otherwise our conversation might be very different.

“If an unfortunate accident happens and we fail, regardless of which player is involved, I hope that social media will learn from this (Euro 2021) experience and implement preventative measures.

“The UKFPU is prepared to prosecute anyone who repeats this type of abuse.”