Footballing legends Thierry Henry and Lucy Bronze have made a major intervention in the debate around online abuse, calling on the government to strongly limit the reach and power of anonymous accounts.
They spoke at a virtual event, Tuesday, in parliament organised by all the football authorities and led by The Football Association (FA) and the Premier League. The event was for MPs and Peers to discuss the issue of online discriminatory abuse.
Henry recounted the abuse - often racist - he has been subjected to online and which led him to quit social media entirely in March this year.
The former Arsenal and French striker said that the problem of abuse being directed against footballers is widespread and that many footballers at all levels of the game, and their families, suffer from mental health issues as a result.
He was joined at the roundtable by Manchester City and England defender Lucy Bronze who described the huge quantity of sexist abuse she has been subjected to.
Thierry Henry said:
“On social media platforms it seems you can say whatever you want and there are no real consequences. This needs to change and people need to be held accountable.
"There is attention on this topic, but we still have some way to go. I don’t want my kids to go through abuse, my family, friends or indeed anyone to experience any kind of online abuse.”
Lucy Bronze said:
“Every day of my life I experience sexism on social media, and I play with a lot of players who experience all types of online abuse. I’m aware of victims who have been blocked from reporting their experiences to social media platforms, if they reach a limit on reporting. Right now, we punish the victim but not the abusers. There has to be a way to hold people accountable and it’s time something was done. That's why it was so important for me to take part in the event today and share my experiences, so that change can happen quickly.”
Edleen John from the FA said:
“Online abuse has a lasting psychological impact not just on those who receive it, but on their friends and family too. In our discussion, with Thierry and Lucy, we heard first-hand about the need for change and the current failings of social media organisations. These two household names shared the current onus on victims, whereas abusers can operate within a culture of impunity and without real-world consequences. This has to stop and social media companies have a moral obligation to do more to tackle this endemic issue.
"We welcome this open dialogue with parliamentarians and want to continue to work with them to ensure that that there is support for a strong Online Safety Bill which effectively tackles the key issues at hand. We also urge social media companies to act now as oppose to waiting for that legislation.”
The event in parliament was co-hosted by a number of All-Party Parliamentary Groups including those for Digital Regulation and Responsibility, Women in Parliament, and Compassionate Politics.
Maria Miller MP, former Secretary of State for Culture, Media, and Sport and current Chair of the All-Party Group for Women in Parliament, said:
“We heard today how social media can foster an abusive atmosphere online because there are a lack of real world consequences for people who post abuse online through anonymous accounts. Public figures are sadly too familiar with this issue, and so are women, who experience disproportionate online abuse compared to men; 52% of women and girls say they’ve experienced abuse online, which includes threatening messages, sexual harassment and the sharing of private images without consent. Alarmingly, 87% think the problem is getting worse [1].
“No one should have to stop using social media because of online abuse. I think it could help to have a twin-track process where the default setting on social media is to verify the identity of users and automatically filter out anonymous or unverified accounts, but still allowing others to choose to be anonymous if they need to do that. This straightforward change would empower users and protect everyone from some of the worst forms of abuse, harassment, and misinformation. If we let the Online Safety Bill go through parliament without rectifying the problems around anonymous posts, we will have failed. Let’s learn from the errors of the past and finally get serious about ending abuse online.”
Jeremy Wright, Chair of the All-Party Group for Digital Rights and Responsibility and former Secretary of State for Culture, Media, and Sport, said:
"The Online Safety Bill is an opportunity to ensure platforms, and the perpetrators of online abuse, are held accountable for the hate circulating online. The onus can no longer only be on victims of abuse to keep themselves safe. Ofcom must be given meaningful powers to ensure companies comply with their obligations, particularly when it comes to legal but harmful content which is so widespread online."
Polling by Opinium [2] for Compassion in Politics [3] found that interventions to tackle anonymous accounts are widely popular. 81% said they would be willing to provide a piece of personal ID to gain a “verified” account, if that meant reducing the number of unverified profiles. 72% also said they would choose to filter out all anonymous accounts if they had the option to do so [4].
Notes
[1]
https://webfoundation.org/2020/07/theres-a-pandemic-of-online-violence-against-women-and-girls/
[3] https://www.compassioninpolitics.com/