Earlier this year, players, clubs from the Premier League, English Football League, Women’s Super League and Women’s Championship, as well as the sport’s governing bodies and organizations such as Kick It Out, suspended their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts. . three days. was closed.
In a joint statement at the time, the group said the boycott is expected to “emphasize that social media companies should do more to eradicate hate online.”
However, several players – including Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho, Bukayo Saka and Wilfred Zaha – have still been subjected to racist abuse on social media.
Asked if some players would consider another boycott, Azpilicueta replied: “If we have to, then yes. Social media is in our lives and as I said earlier, the club, the Premier League, the players, we are part of it.
“We have millions of followers from everywhere, but if that’s the only way we can get our attention and achieve the social media platform’s commitment to make it better. you know, we did it a few months ago and now we’re waiting [if] We’ll have to do it again.
“At the time, when we decided to boycott, it was really fast. So it’s not something that you need a couple of months to work on. I guess if action is needed, yeah [we will do it],
“No one anywhere should experience racist abuse, and we don’t tolerate it on our apps,” a Meta Company spokesperson told CNN. “As soon as we find hateful content, we remove it and respond quickly to legitimate legal requests that can help with police investigations.
“Nothing can fix this challenge overnight, but we are continuing our work with industry and government to help keep our community safe from abuse.”
In a statement sent to CNN, a Twitter spokesperson said: “Keeping everyone using Twitter safe and free from abuse is our top priority.
“While we have made recent progress in giving people more control over how they manage their security, we know there is still work to be done as our product, policy and engineering teams work to build a healthier Twitter.” Worked extensively.” But keep working at a faster pace.”
social media identity
Azpilicueta believes that “education of people is important” to making social media a safe environment, but says that tracking racist abuse and making police work easier requires some level of recognition immediately. Is required. Is.
Earlier this year, before changing its corporate name to Meta, Facebook told CNN that requiring users to provide ID could lead to exclusions for disadvantaged social groups that don’t have easy access to official documentation, Whereas ID standards and verification procedures are very different. country to country
Azpilicueta says he understands that social media companies want their platforms to be used by as many people as possible, but says something must now be done to make them safer.
“As a parent, you know, my kids, they’re already using technology, so they’re very used to it and I wasn’t there when I was a kid — who knows. [what will happen] In a few years’ time,” he says.
“So for me, identity on social media should be important, at least your name, your details and then if you do any kind of abuse or hate, they can sue you.
“It, I think, will subside [abuse] A lot, because we have seen many users hide under different names and they just send messages.
“I think we have to create an environment where everyone is safe,” he says. “We’ve seen you have very young kids on social media who are of any age, there’s no limit to that.”
Azpilicueta, 32, wants companies to take players’ views on board, as another boycott would be detrimental to the club’s ability to use one of the biggest benefits of social media – reaching supporters all over the world.
Azpilicueta, who has been involved in Chelsea’s anti-hate campaign, said: “I hope they listen because the clubs as well as the players have a large number of followers.”
“We boycotted for three days a few months back, but of course we use our social media as a club and as players to reach fans from everywhere, which is fantastic.
“You can connect with fans from everywhere in the world, but … they [social media companies] They can and should do more to create a safer environment not only for the players, but also for the fans.
“Sometimes we see abuse, hatred among fans, which cannot happen. So football is a powerful tool to do that and we are working on it and hopefully we can win.
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