Men’s and women’s professional soccer teams throughout England will be joined by the sport’s governing bodies and broadcasters in staging a social media blackout this weekend to protest online racism and bullying. The blackout, which includes Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, began Friday at 10 a.m. Eastern time and will run through 6:59 p.m. Eastern on Monday.
The protest was spurred in part by former Arsenal striker Thierry Henry, who deleted his social media accounts in late March to protest both online racism and bullying toward Black players and the inability of social media companies to stop it.