The online safety regulator should use powers to fine social media companies that are not quickly removing racism, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy told Sky News, after concerns were raised by England defender Jess Carter.
Carter has declared herself ready to play in the Women’s European Championship semi-final against Italy on Tuesday after speaking out on the hate she has faced online during the tournament.
Players have expressed frustration they are having to use their platform to pressure the tech firms, given how often footballers have had to deal with racist abuse.
There is now the Online Safety Act which should be compelling the companies to take action.
“We’ve introduced new laws so that platforms are under a legal obligation to take down that sort of disgusting content immediately,” Ms Nandy told Sky News.
“And they can be pursued through fines, through Ofcom, if they don’t do it.
“It’s now up to those platforms and up to Ofcom to fulfil those roles that we’ve given them and make sure that this is stamped out online, that it’s dealt with very quickly.”
But Kick It Out chairman Sanjay Bhandari told Sky News on Sunday that “it’s got worse on social media, not better” – singling out Elon Musk’s X and Mark Zuckerberg’s Instagram.
Neither of the companies has responded to requests for comment, including via a public X post.
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England defender Lucy Bronze said “online abuse is getting worse and worse” in women’s football.
Ms Nandy said: “The racial abuse that’s been directed at Jess Carter is utterly disgusting and unfortunately is too common for women at the top of their game, not just in football but across sport as a whole.
“We’re considering as a government what more we can do to protect women players who reach those levels of exposure.”
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The government has made dealing with sports issues a priority, with legislation passed today to introduce an independent regulator for men’s football.
The watchdog aims to ensure clubs are run sustainably and are accountable to their fans.
Ms Nandy said: “There are now protections in law for fans and for clubs to make sure that we have really fit and proper owners; that there is somebody who can tackle rogue owners when problems arise, that we get a proper financial flow to ensure the sustainability of clubs throughout the football pyramid and to make that fans are put back at the heart of the game where they belong.”
The Premier League remains concerned the regulator could harm the success of its competition through unintended consequences.
