Thierry Henry quits Social media over racism

 

Arsenal legend and former France international Thierry Henry has bid social media bye over increasing racism and bullying across different platforms with no sign of reasonable control.

The 43-year-old says the problem is “too toxic to ignore” and will not return until racism and abuse is tackled “with the same vigour and ferocity” that copyright infringements are.

Henry has a huge social media presence with 2.7 million people following him on Instagram and 2.3m on Twitter, while his official Facebook page has 10m followers.

In a statement posted across his different social media platforms, Henry said:  “From tomorrow [Saturday] morning I will be removing myself from social media until the people in power are able to regulate their platforms with the same vigour and ferocity that they currently do when you infringe copyright.

“The sheer volume of racism, bullying and resulting mental torture to individuals is too toxic to ignore. There has to be some accountability. It is far too easy to create an account, use it to bully and harass without consequence and still remain anonymous.

“Until this changes, I will be disabling my accounts across all social platforms. I’m hoping this happens soon.”

Racism and abuse online is an increasing problem in football, with players suffering all manners of abuse off and on the pitch from individuals who often hide behind anonymous accounts.

Marcus Rashford, Fred, Jude Bellingham, Antonio Rudiger and Reece James are just some of the players to have been abused on social media in recent months.

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In January, a 49-year-old man was arrested after West Brom midfielder Romaine Sawyers was sent a racist message after his side’s defeat to Manchester City.

In another case, teenager Patrick O’Brien was found to have racially abused former Arsenal player Ian Wright through direct messages on Instagram after losing a game of FIFA.