English football will challenge social media companies to prove they are serious about protecting players from sickening online abuse following another depressing week.
Marcus Rashford, Reece James, Anthony Martial, Axel Tuanzebe and Romaine Sawyers have all suffered disgusting racial abuse on the internet in recent days, while at least one other Premier League player was targeted last week.
English football’s key stakeholders will lobby companies such as Twitter and Instagram to implement greater self-governance with regards to online abuse — in particular ensuring all accounts are verified so anyone guilty is identifiable.