Racism, discrimination and hatred is rife on social media, ruining lives and polluting the minds of people young and old - and social media companies must do more to stop it.
In protest, Wolves, Wolves Women, Wolves Foundation, Wolves Academy, Wolves Esports and all other club accounts will not post on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok between 3pm today and 11.59pm on Monday 3rd May. The time has come, to say enough is enough.
Why are we boycotting social media?
We want social media companies to do more to prevent the online discriminatory abuse received by players and many others across the world, which goes without any real-life consequences for perpetrators.
We know that a boycott alone will not eradicate this, which is why we will continue to take proactive steps to call for change. We will not stop challenging social media companies until discriminatory online abuse is removed from our game and wider society.
What change do we want to see?
We are asking for significant action from social media companies, including:
- Preventative filtering and blocking measures to stop discriminatory abuse being sent or seen.
- Accountability for safety on their platforms and protection of users by implementing effective verification.
- Ensure real-life consequences for online discriminatory abuse: ban perpetrators, stop account re-registration and support law enforcement.
- A warning message to be displayed if a user writes an abusive message and a requirement to enter personal data if they wish to send the message.
- Platforms to have robust, transparent and swift measures in place if abusive material is sent or posted.
- Dedicated reports on the work social media companies are doing, internally and externally, to eradicate discriminatory abuse on their platforms.
We are also urging the UK Government to ensure its Online Safety Bill will bring in strong legislation to make social media companies more accountable for what happens on their platforms.
How can you help?
By reporting online discriminatory abuse, you can help stop this unacceptable behaviour and protect other people from seeing the abusive content. Everyone has a responsibility to report online hate.
If you have experienced or witnessed discrimination on social media, you can report it via Kick It Out’s online reporting form or their reporting app, which is available on both iOS and Android. You should also make your local police force aware by filing a report here.
If you see a post on social media you believe is discriminatory, you can report it to the site or platform where it was posted. They have people who will review your report and decide on taking it down. Click on the relevant links below for how to report for each platform: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | TikTok | Snapchat | YouTube
