Tottenham Hotspur to join anti-racism social media boycott this weekend

This year alone, two Tottenham Hotspur players have been the victims of racial abuse on social media. First, Davinson Sanchez posted about racist abuse he received online in an Instagram story after Spurs’ 2-2 draw against Newcastle on April 4. Just a week later, Son Heung-Min also was the victim of similar racist abuse after Spurs lost to Manchester United.

Racist, homophobic, and transphobic abuse against is on an uptick on social media, and while it gets the most attention when it’s directed at professional athletes, it’s happening every day to all kinds of people. It’s horrific. It’s beyond disgusting. It’s also past time that this be addressed by social media companies who operate these platforms.

Tottenham Hotspur have joined with the all 20 Premier League clubs as well as the FA, the EFL, the WSL and FAWC, and other organizations for a social media boycott from this Friday through Monday to raise awareness and to put pressure on social media companies to do more to combat this kind of abuse.

In support of this initiative, Cartilage Free Captain has partnered with several other Premier League SB Nation blogs to also go silent on social media during this time. As a football blog and a social media presence, we acknowledge that we too have a part to play here as well. To that end, this post is a pledge that we at Carty Free can and will continue to speak up against and not be a part of any discrimination.

Being part of a social media blackout is a symbol that won’t in and of itself foster significant change. But maybe our participation in it can prompt individuals to look at how they can work towards eliminating hateful invective and abuse on social media, and to continue to push media companies to do more.

Please note that this boycott only covers the Cartilage Free Captain social media feeds — Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, and during the time frame listed in the statement. We will continue to post articles and comments as normal during this period.

Thank you,

—Dustin, on behalf of the Cartilage Free Captain staff

The FA, Premier League, EFL, FA Women’s Super League, FA Women’s Championship, PFA, LMA, PGMOL, Kick It Out, Women In Football and the FSA will unite for a social media boycott from the afternoon of Friday 30th April until the night of Monday 3rd May in response to the ongoing and sustained discriminatory abuse received online by players and many others connected to football.

This has been scheduled to take place across a full fixture schedule in the men’s and women’s professional game and will see clubs across the Premier League, EFL, WSL and Women’s Championship switch off their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.

In solidarity with the cause, the following SB Nation Soccer Premier League blogs will also be honoring a similar period of silence on their social media accounts –

Arsenal – The Short Fuse
Aston Villa – 7500 to Holte
Everton – Royal Blue Mersey
Leicester City – Fosse Posse
Liverpool – The Liverpool Offside
Manchester United – The Busby Babe
Newcastle – Coming Home Newcastle
Tottenham – Cartilage Free Captain

This boycott alone will not stop the stream of hateful commentary that pervades through social media nowadays, but is more of a call to action for all of us as football fans to stand together and stamp this out of the game. We encourage each one of you to take a minute to think about what you, personally, can do to make the game we all love a kinder, more inclusive space and to help drive racism and abuse off social media.

We thank you for your support.