London (AFP)

The English Football Association (FA) called on the government to legislate without delay to force social networks to act against online insults after four days of boycott by clubs, authorities and players.

Several of them, like Marcus Rashford (Manchester United) and Reece James (Chelsea), have been the target of insults on social media in recent months.

The English Football Federation, Premier League, Second Division and Women's Super League clubs, as well as organizations representing players, referees and coaches, later joined by other sports such as rugby or cricket, had decided not to fund their social media accounts from Friday April 30 at 2:00 p.m. GMT until Monday May 3 at 22:59 GMT.

In a statement, the FA said the move "demonstrates our collective anger but will not be enough to eliminate the insults."

"We will continue to call on the owners of social networks to change the way their platforms work, on governments to quickly introduce strong legislation and to ask people to speak out and report on insults online when they see them."

The British government announced last December that a bill on "online security" which was to "establish a global benchmark in online security, with the most comprehensive approach in terms of online regulation", then explained the Minister of Digital, Media, Culture and Sports, Oliver Dowden.

Last Thursday, in a post published by The Sun, Dowden pledged that the parliamentary review of the law will begin "quickly", but that means that it will most likely not come into force until 2022.

The text will provide for fines of up to 10% of global turnover, or the blocking of sites, "for example if they fail to remove racist insults".

"We are now asking Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to use their power to change things and ensure that there are real sanctions for hate online," added the English federation.

"We invite these social networks to respond to our requests."

In a tweet, the Manchester United club claimed that "the boycott is over. But our task to eliminate all forms of discrimination is not."

© 2021 AFP