Arsenal legend quits social media in protest against lack of action over racism and bullying
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Thierry Henry has announced his decision to quit social media until the various platforms start taking racism and bullying seriously.
Marcus Rashford, Fred, Jude Bellingham and Reece James are only four of the many footballers who have been racially abused on social media in recent months.
Social media companies have been urged to implement tougher measures in order to stop people, who often hide behind anonymous accounts, from being able to send abuse.
Whilst Twitter and Instagram point to their record removing accounts, many still find racist abuse does not breach their guidelines whilst anything that infringes copyright is quickly taken down.
And former Arsenal and Barcelona striker Henry has now taken the step to deactivate his social media accounts until more is done to tackle discrimination and abuse on their platforms.
In a statement posted across his different social media platforms, the French legend has called on the people in power to ensure social media is regulated to prevent racism and bullying taking place.
From tomorrow [Saturday] morning I will be removing myself from social media until the people in power are able to regulate their platforms with the same vigour and ferocity that they currently do when you infringe copyright.
The sheer volume of racism, bullying and resulting mental torture to individuals is too toxic to ignore. There has to be some accountability. It is far too easy to create an account, use it to bully and harass without consequence and still remain anonymous.
Until this changes, I will be disabling my accounts across all social platforms. I'm hoping this happens soon.
Henry won two Premier League titles with Arsenal, where he played between 1999 and 2007, and remains a Premier League legend.
The 43-year-old has a huge social media presence with 2.7 million people following him on Instagram and a further 2.3 million on Twitter, whilst his official Facebook page has 10 million followers.
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