'Ian Wright racist abuse wholly unacceptable' Premier League introduce 'rapid response' online reporting system

The Black Lives Matter Movement has been supported by Brighton and Hove Albion and the Premier League

The Premier League has launched a dedicated reporting system for players, managers, coaches and their family members who receive serious discriminatory online abuse.

The central rapid response reporting system will enable players, managers and coaches to notify the Premier League of serious discriminatory abuse received via direct messages on social media platforms. Each case will be reviewed, reported to the relevant social media company, investigated and legal action taken where appropriate.

The Premier League has developed the system and will respond to incidents.

Premier League Chief Executive Richard Masters said: “Online discriminatory abuse is unacceptable in any walk of life and tackling this issue must be a priority. There are too many instances of footballers and their families receiving appalling discriminatory messages; nobody should have to deal with this.

“Our central reporting system has been developed to provide a rapid response and support for any players, managers and coaches who have been victims of serious online discrimination, whether targeted at themselves or family members. Our commitment is to review each case and to take immediate follow-up action.

“We have recently been made aware of the wholly unacceptable online racist abuse received by Ian Wright. The Premier League strongly condemns this deeply offensive behaviour. We immediately implemented our reporting system and will support Ian in any endeavour to bring the offenders to justice.

“The Premier League will not tolerate discriminatory behaviour in any form and we, alongside The FA, EFL, PFA and LMA will continue to challenge major social media companies that fail to do enough to block offensive discriminatory material and identify and ban offenders from their platforms.

“The Premier League and its clubs will also continue to work with the police, Crown Prosecution Service and Kick It Out to identify and ban offenders from Premier League grounds.”

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