Chelsea Football Club will join The FA, Premier League, EFL, FA Women’s Super League, FA Women’s Championship, PFA, LMA, PGMOL, Kick It Out and the FSA in a boycott of social media from 15.00 on Friday 30 April to 23.59 on Monday 3 May, in response to the ongoing and sustained discriminatory abuse received online by players and many others connected to football.
Chelsea FC is clear that there can be no place in our game, nor our society, for racism, antisemitism, homophobia, sexism or any form of discrimination. In sport, as in wider society, we must create a social media environment where hateful and discriminatory actions are as unacceptable online as they would be on the street.We believe that social media is an important means of connecting with our fans and communities all over the world. We use our channels on social media platforms to inform and entertain, to share our stories and make you as fans feel welcome, valued and included as a part of this Club.However, we do not believe that social media companies are doing enough to tackle hateful, abusive and discriminatory behaviour on their platforms. While some progress has been made recently, it is still far too easy to share and amplify discriminatory abuse online. We cannot sit back as players, their families, staff and fans continue to suffer the impact and effect of this senseless hate.We therefore join the English football family in using this boycott to highlight the need for greater action from the platforms, including filtering, blocking and swift takedowns of offensive posts, an improved verification process and re-registration prevention, plus active assistance for law enforcement agencies to identify and prosecute originators of illegal content.
Speaking in support of the boycott following our game against West Ham United today, Chelsea FC Men’s Head Coach Thomas Tuchel said: ‘It’s very important because anything we can do, any sign, any action, we should do. It’s a big problem because on social media you can write anything and nobody knows who you are. So it is a big platform for abuse and we should take any measures we can.’
Chelsea FC Women’s Manager Emma Hayes added: ‘It’s finally time to put an end to keyboard warriors that can hide behind anonymous profiles without recrimination, while people are being abused daily without consequence. I support the entire football community in our efforts to stamp out discrimination of all forms.’
At Chelsea FC we also recognise that we all have our part to play and, following the boycott, we will be announcing further measures we are taking as a club to fight discriminatory abuse on social media.For the full text of the joint announcement of the boycott, please see below: