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26th Mar 2021

Thierry Henry announces social media exit until big tech prioritise tackling racism

Danny Jones

Premier League legend, Thierry Henry, is quitting social media until regulators finally do something about racist abuse

In a statement posted on his Twitter, Thierry Henry has announced that he is “removing [him]self from all social media until the people in power are able to regulate their platforms”.

https://twitter.com/ThierryHenry/status/1375405445108674571?s=20

As you can see, he details that they need to “regulate their platforms with the same vigour and ferocity that they currently do when you infringe copyright”.

He goes on to say that “the sheer volume of racism, bullying and resulting mental torture to individuals is too toxic to ignore”, declaring: “There HAS to be some accountability”.

As well as pointing out social media platforms hypocrisy when it comes to tackling copyright issues, he points out that “It is far too easy to create an account, use it to bully and harass without consequence and still remain anonymous”.

He closes his statement by reiterating that this will be his last social media post until something is done and that he’s “hoping this happens soon”.

Henry’s move comes after multiple incidents of professional footballers suffering vile online abuse prompted several of English football’s leading organisations to write to Facebook and Twitter demanding action.