England cricket star Stuart Broad supports social media boycotts as sport takes steps to tackle online abuse
England cricketer Stuart Broad has become the latest high-profile sporting figure to back a boycott of social media.
Football clubs Rangers and Swansea City have temporarily stopped posting on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook in protest at a perceived lack of action against online abuse.
“There are great positives to social media but if we have to lose those positives for a period of time to make a stand then I’d be well up for that,” said Broad.
Fellow England cricketers Moeen Ali and Jofra Archer have been targeted with racist abuse on social media.
That was the reason for Rangers and Swansea adopting a boycott, which followed a similar move by World Cup-winning former France star Thierry Henry.
Tottenham said they were reviewing “the most effective action” after Son Heung-Min received racist abuse on social media at the weekend.
Broad added: “If there was action it would come from the leaders in our dressing room and if the team felt like a change needed to happen we’ve got some really great people above us in the hierarchy who would be very open to what the team’s beliefs were.
“It’s a really strong message. I think it is definitely worth a conversation.”
Debate over the toxicity of some exchanges on social media has become increasingly prominent in football in particular.
Two months ago, the Premier League, Football Association and other leading bodies in the English game joined forces to write an open letter demanding more action from Twitter and Facebook, which also owns Instagram.
Facebook vowed to get tougher on user who sent abusive messages, but that has not been sufficient to prevent the boycotts.