The International Tennis Federation has pledged its allegiance to the social media boycott. The governing body of Tennis has issued a statement: “Tennis players, coaches and officials all over the world receive abusive messages through social media on a daily basis – and this is on the rise – referring to their race, their gender, their looks and their ability.”
The English football association has initiated the campaign following a number of social media attacks on a host of players.
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), England Rugby, Premiership Rugby, the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) also soon followed suit and threw their support behind this campaign in a bid to curb out racism and online hate.
Online racial abuse has had a turbulent effect on the players. We have seen former Arsenal player Thierry Henry quitting social media to stand against the online hate campaign.
ITF President, David Haggerty said: “Time and again we see the devastating impact that online abuse, threats and discriminatory language has on professional athletes, coaches and officials, not only in Tennis but across sport. The level of abuse individuals are forced to endure is completely unacceptable, which is why we are joining this boycott and calling on social media companies to act now to protect individuals who are merely doing their jobs.”
The boycott is aimed at the social media companies for their lackluster attitude despite receiving numerous complaints every day. The issue has been a matter of concern for the players across the world in the recent past as they often face vile abuse and death threats, especially after having a bad day at the office.
Clubs like Manchester United and F1 star Lewis Hamilton have embraced the boycott and have remained one of the forefront warriors in this movement.
In response to the alleged criticism, Twitter replied that they have removed almost 7000 abusive tweets from Twitter.
There has been a steep increase in Online harassment and discrimination, and people with authority should come up with innovative ideas and campaigns to raise awareness amongst the people.
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