Gareth Bale hints on social media boycott

Wales forward Gareth Bale says he would be prepared to join a social media boycott to tackle online abuse after Rabbi Matondo and Ben Cabango were racially abused on Saturday.

Police in Cardiff are currently investigating the origin of the abuse aimed at Cabango and Matondo following Wales’ win over Mexico.

After the game, Matondo took to Twitter to post a screenshot of racist messages he had been sent on Instagram. He said: “And it continues… another week of @instagram doing absolutely nothing about racial abuse.

In response, a spokesperson for Facebook – which owns Instagram – told Sky Sports News: “We don’t want racist abuse on Instagram and have removed the accounts that sent these messages to Ben Cabango and Rabbi Matondo this weekend.”

Last week, former Arsenal forward Thierry Henry described racism on social media as “too toxic to ignore” and over the weekend, he disabled all of his accounts following the recent instances on the platform

Wales caretaker boss Rob Page says the racist abuse sent to Rabbi Matondo and Ben Cabango is unacceptable and that the focus this week is on making sure the duo are OK

Read AlsoThierry Henry quits Social media over racism

When asked if he would consider boycotting social media platforms, Bale said: “If everyone did it at once, not just one or two people, I would.

“If it was a campaign where a lot of influential people in sport and other forms of life on social media make a statement, then I think it could help.