Officials from the Premier League, the Football Association (FA) and the English Football League (EFL) met Twitter executives on Friday to discuss plans to tackle the abuse that has become commonplace on the social media platform.
The issue has come to prominence in recent weeks with a raft of high-profile footballers receiving abuse. Manchester United’s Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford were both subject to racist comments on Twitter following missed penalties, as was Chelsea’s Tammy Abraham, while Reading’s Yakou Meite hit back at a hateful message on Instagram.
Several leading players have called for action to be taken by social media companies. Kick It Out, an organisation which campaigns for equality in football, demanded Twitter and other platforms face up to the “insidious problem”.
The FA revealed in a statement that talks have begun, although it gave no details of the approaches being considered, saying only that “constructive talks” would continue.
“The FA, Premier League and EFL today met Twitter with respect to the ongoing concerns surrounding discriminatory and hateful conduct taking place on the platform,” the FA’s statement read.
“The meeting was productive and positive, and gave both the football authorities and Twitter an opportunity to examine some of the specific issues around this unacceptable behaviour both online and offline.
“All parties agreed to take these constructive discussions forward.”
