According to the LFP, Facebook has already committed to “accelerate the implementation of existing measures” to avoid insults on the networks
The French Professional Football League (LFP) urged the Facebook and Twitter platforms to tighten their control to prevent the posts of racist and homophobic content that circulate during football matches.
“When our country is going through a social and economic crisis, at a time when football cannot be directly connected with the fans, the protagonists of the matches and people close to them are subjected to racist and hateful insults on social media “the LFP denounced in a statement.
“Players, coaches, leaders, all of them have become easy targets for people who almost always take refuge in the anonymity of social networks to insult them with total impunity,” added the League.
For this reason, the LFP leadership convened this week those responsible for Facebook and Twitter to obtain “concrete measures” to prevent hate speech from spreading.
The initiative follows a similar one launched last week in England, where the Premier League, the FA, women’s football, the referee’s college, the coaches association and the Kick It Out organization sent a letter to Facebook and Twitter in which They reproached them for their lack of action in the face of the abuses in the form of racist or discriminatory messages that soccer players are subjected to on these social networks.
According to the LFP, Facebook has already promised to create a working group with members of the French League to “accelerate the implementation of existing measures” to avoid insults on the networks and to “reflect on new solutions.”
Likewise, this group will explain “as soon as possible, to clubs and players the tools they have to fight” against harassment and insults online.
This social network has also committed to working with different associations to promote “responsible behavior” on the Internet.
“Football represents a unique social nexus. We must protect it and counter the hate speech that is multiplying on social media. We have chosen to start a constructive and cooperative relationship with Facebook and Twitter,” said LFP President Vincent Labrune.
In the same statement, Facebook’s vice president for the southern region of Europe, Laurent Solly, certified the platform’s commitment against “hate speech and racism.”
“Between last October and December, we have adopted measures against millions of hate content, of which more than 95% have been eliminated even before someone warned us,” said Solly, who, however, acknowledged that there is still ” much to do. “
Twitter’s CEO for France, Damien Viel, reinforced the company’s commitment to “ensuring” that there are no threats to someone’s safety when talking about football on the platform.
“We welcome the opportunity to develop our long-standing relationship with the LFP and to continue to work closely with our important partners in the world of football to combat such heinous behavior, both online and offline,” Viel said.
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