Swansea City announces social media boycott to tackle abuse

Last Friday Jamal Lowe became the third Swansea player in less than two months to be subjected to racial abuse on Instagram.

Swansea's Jamal Lowe, Ben Cabango and Yan Dhanda have been racially abused on social media in the past two months.

Swansea City and its players will boycott social media over the racist abuse sent on the platforms, the club announced on Thursday.

For seven days from 17:00 BST on April 8, there will be no posts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, TikTok and Snapchat, said Swansea, which plays in England's second-tier League Championship.

 

The club has written to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Facebook counterpart Mark Zuckerberg to ask for more stringent policing and punishments for those posting racist messages.

Swansea City has chosen to take a club-wide stance in the battle against abuse and discrimination of all forms on social media.

From 5pm today we will not post any content on our official social media channels for seven days.#EnoughIsEnough

https://t.co/rmHXB0j2l7pic.twitter.com/fKqKqHl8Ag

— Swansea City AFC (@SwansOfficial) April 8, 2021

 

 

"Three of our squad have been racially abused in recent weeks and, as a squad and club, we wanted to take this stance as we again call on those at the forefront of social media companies to implement the change that is needed now and in the future," Swansea captain Matt Grimes said.

"I find it staggering that we are still talking about racism and abuse of this kind. We are acutely aware of the pressures within football at this level, but it shouldn't be underestimated as to how such levels of abuse can affect someone."