Tweets hurling racist abuse at footballers, including the N-word, monkey emojis and calls for them to be deported, are not being removed by
Twitter.
New research shows the platform failed to act on 99 out of 100 racist tweets reported to it in the week before the
World Cup.
Only one was removed after being flagged on Wednesday, a tweet that repeated a racial slur 16 times. All the others remained live this weekend.
The abuse was aimed at 43 players including England stars Raheem Sterling and Bukayo Saka, who were among several players targeted after the Euro 2020 final.
The analysis, conducted by researchers at the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) and seen by the
Observer, included 100 tweets reported to Twitter. Of those, 11 used the N-word to describe footballers, 25 used monkey or banana emojis directed at players, 13 called for players to be deported, and 25 attacked players by telling them to “go back to” other countries. Thirteen tweets targeted footballers over their English skills.
The findings come at a turbulent time for Twitter and will fuel concerns about players possibly being targeted during the World Cup.