West Ham have made their stance clear on the reason for the social media boycott that took place over the Bank Holiday Weekend. From 3pm on Friday, April 30, until 11.59pm on Monday, May 3, West Ham joined their fellow Premier League clubs, governing bodies across a number of sports and media organisations, in a social media blackout. West Ham explained ahead of the boycott why they were taking part.
West Ham said: “At West Ham United, we believe the boycott will draw attention to the importance of these companies acting on this problem, and it will help to educate people in the ongoing fight against racism, and all forms of discrimination. We acknowledge that a social media boycott alone will not eradicate it – it is saddening that we are even having to take those steps. But our stance this weekend does demonstrate the serious and continued determined approach we take regarding the issue. It is also in line with the club’s wider EDI [equality, diversity and inclusion] strategy and our work to combat discriminatory abuse, not just online but in the wider community. English football, sporting organisations and people across the world united over the weekend to boycott social media, challenging platforms to do more to stop online discriminatory abuse. We now call on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to use their power to affect change and ensure there are real-life sanctions for online hate. We invite these social media companies to respond to our requests for action.”
The challenge has now been laid down to the likes of Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to do their part in ending the shocking and all too predictable circle of online hate and abuse. This has to stop and it is high time the social media companies step up to the plate and take responsibility for the content hosted on their platforms.
