Arsenal demand social media companies crack down on online abuse as club back Thierry Henry following boycott

ARSENAL have demanded social media companies act now to eradicate abuse on their platforms.

The Gunners have launched their own Stop Online Abuse campaign in a bid to help fight the vile attacks which continue to blight players and fans.

Arsenal chief executive Vinai Venkatesham (left) and boss Mikel Arteta (centre) have led the club in demanding action from social media companies

And just days after club legend Thierry Henry quit social media until companies like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter tackle the problem properly, Arsenal have stood up to add their weight to the fight.

A club statement said: “All of us at Arsenal – players, staff and fans – stand together to address the flow of abusive posts and messages on social media platforms.

“We call on everyone to join forces and identify, condemn and highlight abuse when they see it.

“This is about changing attitudes and making a difference every day.

“We do this through our community work and the Arsenal for Everyone programme – but it’s time for us all to work together.

“We also echo the demands made to social media platforms by the footballing community. The demands are as follows.

• Racist/discriminatory messages/posts should be filtered/blocked before they are received

• Operate robust/transparent/swift measures to take down abusive material if it does get into circulation

• Users subject to verification that allows for accurate ID of person behind the account. Steps taken to stop a user that has sent abuse from re-registering

• Our platforms should actively assist investigating authorities in identifying the originators of discriminatory posts.”

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Gunners chief executive Vinai Venkatesham said: “How do you explain to a black footballer that a piece of pirated content is taken down within minutes, but that’s not the same for racist abuse?”

And boss Mikel Arteta added: “Abuse has to be eradicated completely because it’s causing a lot of damage.

“Social media platforms have a big responsibility on that.”

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