Wales star Gareth Bell said he would be ready to join a social media boycott to deal with online abuse after former Arsenal and France striker Thierry Henry deactivated their accounts. Henry left social media over the weekend, stating that he would stay away until the platforms did more to combat “toxic” racism and harassment.
Two Bells Wales teammates, Ben Cabango and Rabbi Matondo, were racially abused on Instagram following a 1-0 friendly win over Mexico on Saturday – the latest footballer to attack online.
Matondo criticized Instagram for not reacting quickly, saying that if he had posted pictures of the match, he would have been removed.
Facebook, which owns Instagram, later deleted several accounts used for racial abuse.
Only a major boycott will have an effect, he said on Monday, on the eve of Wales’ 2022 World Cup qualifier against the Czech Republic.
The 31-year-old forward said, “If everyone doesn’t do this with one or two people at once, I will.”
“If this was a campaign in which many influential people in sports and other forms of life (acting) are used on social media to make a statement, I think it might help.
“If that was the case then I am for him.”
Henry, with 2.3 million followers on Twitter and 2.7 million on Instagram, told broadcaster ITV that he would return to social media when “safe”.
The 1998 World Cup winner said, “People are racially abused, but when you see the statement (they made), I talk about bullying, harassment, which can cause mental problems, people commit suicide. can do.”
“It is very difficult to erase everything but can it be safe? We all know that it is a great tool but a lot of people are using it as a weapon.
“Why? Because they can hide behind fake accounts.”
Instagram took action in relation to 6.6 million elements of hate speech between October and December last year.
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Twitter has said it will cooperate with authorities to eradicate posts filled with racial abuse and hatred but decline to ban anonymous accounts.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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