talkSPORT has announced it has joined the Social Media Boycott announced by English football in response to the ongoing and sustained discriminatory abuse received online by players and many others connected to football.
talkSPORT and talkSPORT 2 will not publish any content across their social media channels starting at 3pm on Friday until Tuesday May 4.
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The boycott aims to encourage the government to bring forward Online Harms legislation as a matter of urgency, to help keep people safe online.
Head of talkSPORT Lee Clayton said: “talkSPORT is proud to join the Social Media Boycott to speak up for those who have suffered real and lasting abuse on social media.
“talkSPORT’s social media is an important part of our multimedia offering with 5.6m followers across our social platforms. But now is the time to stand with the football community against hate.
“Racism is of course a big part of this boycott. But it also spans sexism, hateful and hostile content, discrimination and general abuse too. As a station we are taking steps to protect our own presenters from abuse from social media trolls and this is an important statement that online hate will not be tolerated.”
It was announced last week that the whole of English football will boycott social media for this weekend in protest against online racism.
Every club across the Premier League, English Football League, Women’s Super League and Women’s Championship will switch off their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts from 3pm on Friday 30 April to 11.59pm on Monday 3 May.
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The seismic move – which involves the FA, PFA, LMA, PGMOL, Kick It Out and FSA – was announced after numerous players have suffered racist abuse on social media in recent months.
A long list of football stars have shared vile messages sent to them online this season and questions continue to be asked about how much is done to prevent it from the likes of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Swansea and Birmingham, along with Arsenal legend Thierry Henry, have already held boycotts amid calls for online platforms to take more action and stamp out discrimination.
Speaking to talkSPORT earlier this week, Henry said: “Football is powerful. The press is powerful and if we come together and the strength of the pack can achieve something.
“This is the start and hopefully it can carry on.
“We can have an impact on who is talking on those platforms or we can protect our game.
“We saw when everyone came together last week what happened with the Super League. It lasted two days.
“If everyone came together on racism issues, bullying, whatever problem we have in our game things can happen.
“If you come as an individual, nobody cares. Companies only care when you comes as a pack.
“When the people talk, people will get something.
“It was a great victory for everybody that loved football. When we all come together nobody can do anything.”
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