Repudiation of racist messages to England footballers

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(CNN) -

The discriminatory and racist messages received by some footballers of the England team after the defeat in the final of Euro 2020 against Italy, in a penalty shootout, received a generalized repudiation in the last hours.

The Prime Minister of Great Britain himself, Boris Johnson, condemned on Monday the racist messages on social networks directed at some of England's players after the lost final.

"This England team deserves to be praised as heroes, not racially abused on social media," Johnson wrote on Twitter.

This England team deserve to be lauded as heroes, not racially abused on social media.

Those responsible for this appalling abuse should be ashamed of themselves.

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- Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) July 12, 2021

"Those responsible for this terrible abuse should be ashamed of themselves," Johnson added.

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The mayor of London, for his part, called the attack suffered by some footballers "abhorrent" and called on social media companies to take immediate action to "prevent this hatred."

"Racist abuse of any kind is abhorrent and will not be tolerated on or off the court," Khan tweeted.

There is absolutely no place for racism in football or anywhere else.

Those responsible for the disgusting online abuse we have seen must be held accountable - and social media companies need to act immediately to remove and prevent this hate.

- Sadiq Khan (@SadiqKhan) July 12, 2021

“@MetPoliceUK will investigate shocking online abuse targeting England players.

Social media companies must take immediate action to eliminate and prevent this hatred, ”Khan added.

Prince William's message

Prince William also joined the chorus on Monday condemning discriminatory attacks and said he felt "disgusted".

"I am disgusted by the racist abuse directed at England players after last night's game," the Duke of Cambridge, president of the English Football Association, wrote on Twitter.

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“It is totally unacceptable that players have to put up with this abominable behavior.

It must stop now and everyone involved must be held accountable, "he added.

For the England manager, the attack is "unforgivable"

England manager Gareth Southgate said on Monday that racist messages online towards some England players after their defeat in the Euro 2020 final - to Italy on Sunday - was "unforgivable", adding that "just It is not what we represent. "

At a virtual press conference, Southgate said: “For some of them, the abuse is unforgivable.

A part has come from abroad, they have told us this, but another part is from this country. "

“We have been a beacon of light to bring people together and the national team represents everyone.

We feel the energy and positivity from the fans and I'm incredibly proud of that, "added Southgate.

The England coach went on to emphasize that addressing abuse must be a collective responsibility.

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“Everyone should remember when they support the team that they also represent England and they should represent what we stand for.

The players have done brilliantly, "emphasized Southgate.

And he concluded: “We have had a positive effect in many areas of society, but we cannot affect everything.

Other people have responsibilities in those areas.

We have to work collectively to constantly improve those things. "

Thousands of messages with racist attacks, deleted on social networks

Twitter told CNN on Monday that it deleted more than 1,000 tweets and "permanently suspended several accounts" following online abuse, racist abuse targeting some England players, following Sunday's Euro 2020 final defeat.

A Twitter spokesperson provided CNN with the following statement: “The heinous racist abuse directed at England players last night has absolutely no place on Twitter.

“In the last 24 hours, through a combination of machine learning-based automation and human review, we quickly deleted more than 1,000 tweets and permanently suspended multiple accounts for violating our rules, the vast majority of which we proactively detect using technology. .

"We have been proactively engaged and continue to collaborate with our partners throughout the soccer community to identify ways to collectively address this issue and we will continue to play our role in curbing this unacceptable behavior, both online and offline."

added the statement.

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Facebook, the owner of Instagram, told CNN that it had "removed comments and accounts" aimed at abusing England players and that it was "committed to keeping our community safe from abuse."

"No one should have to suffer racist abuse anywhere, and we don't want it on Instagram," the statement read.

“Last night we promptly removed comments and accounts targeting England footballers and will continue to take action against those who break our rules.

"No one will solve this challenge overnight, but we are committed to keeping our community safe from abuse," the statement added.

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