At 3pm today until 11:59pm on Monday, all sports channels across the entire Reach network, including football.london, will join the boycott of social media as part of the campaign against online hate.
So far this season players at all of the capital’s top-flight clubs have been subject to horrendous abuse.
From Arsenal’s Pierre Emerick Aubameyang deactivating his Twitter account earlier this month to his team-mate Willian sharing screenshots of the racism he has been subjected to.
From Tottenham’s Son Heung-min being abused by Manchester United supporters, who have since been banned, to Chelsea’s Tammy Abraham and Crystal Palace’s Wilfried Zaha receiving racist remarks to Reece James and his sister Lauren both being subject to racist and sexist abuse.
No dressing room has been spared this disgusting plague. Enough is enough.
That is why the Premier League, FA, Kick It Out and Women's Super League have been joined by clubs up and down the country as well as organisations from cricket, rugby, cycling and horse racing in staging the boycott. Above all they want the social media platforms to take more responsibility for keeping hate out of our sport.
As journalists this is not a decision we take lightly but we believe it is important that Reach titles add their voices to the calls for greater action against the epidemic of online hate and be a force for good in the communities we serve.
As the nation's biggest sports publisher we will of course continue to create the outstanding sports content – from Premier League to local matches – for which we are famous. We just won't be sharing this content on social over the weekend.
Our news accounts will also continue to share the biggest breaking news this weekend, including covering the impact of this boycott.
