Privacy Campaigners condemn the Government for abdicating their responsibility

Responding to racist comments that were directed towards several England players following the team’s loss on penalties against Italy in the EURO 2020 final, Heather Burns, Policy Manager at the Open Rights Group, said: 

“Illegal racial abuse sent to England’s footballers must be prosecuted under existing laws. Governmentneeds to ensure that police and the justice system enforce existing criminal law, rather than abdicating their responsibility by making this the social media platforms’ problem. Social media sites do not operate courts and prisons.

“Online abuse is not anonymous. Virtually all of the current wave of abuse is immediately traceable to the individuals who shared it, and social media platforms can hand details to law enforcement. Government cannot pretend that this problem is not their responsibility. Calls for social media platforms to take material down miss the point, and let criminals off the hook.” 

ENDS 

Contact 

Press 07951265812 / press@openrightsgroup.org