Bristol Rovers Women's fully support the social media boycott in response to the ongoing and sustained discriminatory abuse received online by players and many others connected to football. The FA, Premier League, EFL, FA Women’s Super League, FA Women’s Championship, PFA, LMA, PGMOL, Kick It Out and the FSA will unite for a social media boycott from 15.00 on Friday 30 April to 23.59 on Monday 3 May.
We recognise that players across the game and many others connected to it from all backgrounds continue to receive sexist, racist and other forms of discriminatory abuse. We believe that football needs to unite to highlight the need for social media platforms to do more.
Boycott action from football in isolation will, of course, not eradicate the scourge of online discriminatory abuse, but it will demonstrate that the game is willing to take voluntary and proactive steps in this continued fight.
Finally, while football takes a stand, we urge the UK Government to ensure its Online Safety Bill will bring in strong legislation to make social media companies more accountable for what happens on their platforms, as discussed at the DCMS Online Abuse roundtable earlier this week.
Gas Girls Co-Founder and Media Manager, Matthew Davies said; "While social media can offer us an opportunity to share our values and commitment to our local community, I'm sure we have all witnessed how these channels can be used as a vessel for toxic abuse across football. This needs to change and we fully support any initiative or collaboration across our game to stamp out online abuse and hold those responsible to account."