Boris Johnson has taken a firm stance against racism. Following England’s Euro 2020 final defeat to Italy, Prime Minister Theresa May condemned racist insults directed at the players.
“[The England footballers] truly represent our country’s best. And, once again, I vehemently reject and hate the racial outbursts that we witnessed on Sunday night. So, Mr Speaker, we are taking tangible steps today to ensure that the football banning order regime is amended so that if you are guilty of racial abuse of footballers online, you will not be allowed to attend the match “Johnson stated.
Johnson says that social media platforms would be penalized if they fail to remove racist information from their various platforms while speaking in the UK Houses of Parliament.
“I met with representatives from Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram last night, and I made it plain to them that we will legislate to address this problem in the Online Harms Bill, Mr Speaker. They will face fines of up to 10% of their global income unless they remove hate and racism from their platforms “He adds, “evenues.”
Racist insults directed against English football players have sparked widespread outrage.
In just two days, a petition to permanently ban racists from football events gathered more than one million signatures in response to the abuse.
Anti-racism protesters gathered on Tuesday around a defaced mural of English player Marcus Rashford.
“I can take a critique of my performance all day long, my penalty was not good enough, it should have gone in, but I will never apologize for who I am or where I came from,” Rashford stated on Twitter on Monday.
The internet vitriol was “unforgivable,” according to England manager Gareth Southgate. Captain Harry Kane retaliated against the trolls as well.
He stated, “They deserve love and backing, not the nasty racist insults they’ve received.”
“If you abuse someone on social media, you’re not an England fan, and we’re not interested in you,” he says.
The English Football Association has likewise strongly condemned the racist assaults. Prince William, the country’s president, described the abuse as “sickening.”
