Premier League clubs told ‘monkey emojis don’t violate racism rules’ by Twitter

This follows several high-profile incidents of players being racially abused on social media

Premier League clubs have reportedly been left shocked after reporting racist messages directed at players on Twitter only to be told by the social media platform that use of a monkey emoji does not violate any of the rules. According to the Daily Mail, several clubs in England's top flight alerted Twitter to a number of clearly offensive tweets in which the emoji had been used. They later received responses from the platform which explained that no regulations had been broken, and that no action would be taken against those who sent the tweets as a result. The same report details how one club were particularly shocked at the response given to one of the tweets they reported, in which several players had been branded 'f***ing monkeys'. Though the account responsible was locked as a consequence, they were told the person would 'have the option to take actions we've requested to have their account unlocked'. Twitter failed to respond to the Mail's request for an explanation to that particular example, as well as questions over whether the company used technology - not humans - to help deal with monitoring reported content on the platform. The report follow follows several high-profile incidents of racist abuse being directed at footballers in the Premier League via social media. Manchester United players Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and Axel Tuanzebe were all targeted following their side's recent games with Sheffield United and Arsenal. Chelsea's Reece James also revealed the vile abuse he had received via Instagram last week, with his club swiftly publishing a statement for more action to be taken. This week saw Southampton's Alex Jankewitz, still only 19, targeted after he was sent off in the second minute of his team's 9-0 loss to United at Old Trafford.

The same report claims a Twitter spokesperson has confirmed that 'racist behaviour' had 'no place' on the platform, insisting that enforcement action is taken whenever accounts are found to have violated rules.

The spokesperson also confirmed that accounts responsible for the tweets flagged by the clubs had now been permanently banned. They also added that their policy also prohibits hateful imagery and emojis, despite what has been reported by some of the clubs.