From boycotting social media for days at the end of April, to follow up of those commiting racist abuses, the Premier League has announced the arrest of 8 men involved in racist abuse with 4 others under investigation.

During the Manchester United v Tottenham Hotspur match on 11 April, an unnamed player was targeted with a series of offensive and racist remarks on Twitter.

The abuse was picked up by Man Utd’s online reporting tool and passed on to the police. The Met worked with both clubs as well as social media companies and other police forces to identify the perpetrators.

The 12 men in total are from England and Wales, have each been arrested, or interviewed under caution, under suspicion of using words or behaviour, or displaying written material with intent to stir up racial hatred.

“This action makes it abundantly clear that police will not stand for racist thuggery, even if it is committed online,”

English football is also calling for the Online Safety Bill announced in this month’s Queen’s Speech to be enacted in legislation as soon as possible. This would provide legislative and regulatory frameworks robust and effective in requiring social media companies to do more to prevent, detect and remove discriminatory abuse from their platforms. If this is done it would go a long way to hit against online abuse and racist acts.