Soccer, unfortunately, has a long and well-documented relationship with racism. Soccer legend Thierry Henry decided to do something about it.
In March, Arsenal’s all-time leading scorer deleted all of his social media accounts to protest racism and bullying towards Black players in soccer.
“Maybe if I come off social media, as you know, taking a stand for the people that don’t maybe have a voice, maybe you can create a wave because of me coming off social media,” Henry told CNN this week. “People would like to know why, and they wanted to know why. But in the aftermath of it, there was a little period where I was like, ‘Well, it’s kind of a shame that people are not reacting.’ ”
Thierry was also protesting social media’s inability to effectively deal with racism across its platforms. His goal was to inspire others to follow his lead and institute change.
On Friday, others took Thierry’s actions to heart and went dark on social media. The list is significant and includes clubs from the Premier League, English Football League, Women’s Super League and Women’s Championship. In addition, governing bodies and organizations such as FIFA, UEFA and Kick It Out joined in on the three-day social media blackout that runs from Friday at 10am EST to Monday at 6:59pm EST.
“FIFA supports the initiative from English football to call out discriminatory and other offensive abuse on social media,” said FIFA in a statement. “This has no place in football or society more generally and we strongly condemn it.
“We believe that authorities and social media companies should take real and effective steps to put an end to these abhorrent practices because it’s getting worse all the time and something needs to be done — and done quickly — to put a stop to it.”
But it wasn’t just soccer entities as others, including English cricket and rugby clubs, and the British Lawn Tennis Association jumped into the mix.
Even Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton called out F1 to support the cause.
“I’m really proud to hear that there are so many organizations getting involved. I’m not sure why Formula One is not a part of that,” said Hamilton. “I do believe that social media companies need to do more. There’s algorithms, there’s things they’re able to see, they’re able to take steps to help and create more of an anti-racist society. That’s what we’ve really got to be pushing towards.”
The racing star, who speaks out about racism, police brutality and social justice, posted a message to Twitter on Friday and has gone silent since.
“To stand in solidarity with the football community, I will be going dark on my social media channels this weekend. There is no place in our society for any kind of abuse, online or not, and for too long it’s been easy for a small few to post hate from behind their screens,” tweeted Hamilton on Friday.
Social media platforms have stated that they denounce racism and are trying to combat it.
“We don’t want discriminatory abuse on Instagram or Facebook,” said a Facebook spokesperson to CNN. “We share the goal of tackling it and holding people who share it accountable. We do this by taking action on content and accounts that break our rules and cooperating with law enforcement when we receive a valid legal request.
“We’re committed to fighting hate and racism on our platform, but we also know these problems are bigger than us, so we look forward to continuing our work with industry partners to tackle the issue — both on and offline.”
Twitter also responded to CNN.
“Racist behavior, abuse and harassment have absolutely no place on our service and alongside our partners in football, we condemn racism in all its forms.
“We are resolute in our commitment to ensure the football conversation on our service is safe for fans, players and everyone involved in the game.
“Racism is a deep societal and complex issue and everyone has a role to play. We are committed to doing our part and continue to work closely with valued partners in football, government and police, along with the working group convened by Kick It Out to identify ways to tackle this issue collectively — both online and away from social media.”
But Thierry Henry, who started the blackout movement against racism on social media, isn’t having it. He’s tired of talking and wants action.
“We have so many, so many discussions,” said Henry to CNN. “I just want action. That is it. What are we going to talk about? Telling me what [statement] you just put out recently? What’s it going to be: a discussion, by the way, or are you just going to tell me what was going to happen.”
With tens of millions of followers unable to interact with their favorite sports, teams, and athletes for almost four days is an impactful blow to the platforms and teams. Let’s see if social media companies listen and take serious action.
