This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Twitter has said it has taken action over more than 700 cases of football‑related abuse on its platform during the past fortnight.

The company made the statement after meeting the anti-discrimination body Kick It Out last week.

“In the past two weeks we’ve taken action on more than 700 examples of abuse and hateful conduct related to UK football,” Twitter UK said. “This vile content has no place on our service. We will continue to take swift action on the minority that try to undermine the conversation for the majority.

“This behaviour does not reflect the vast majority of fans who use Twitter. We’ve spent years forging strong partnerships with clubs, organisations and supporters and deeply value the relationships.”

Twitter’s statement came as Kick It Out called for the social media company to “deliver concrete change” regarding abuse.

Kick It Out is to hold talks with the UK footballing policing unit and the Crown Prosecution Service regarding how best to punish those responsible.

The move comes after players including Manchester United’s Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford and Chelsea’s Tammy Abraham and Kurt Zouma suffered racial slurs on Twitter this season.

“Kick It Out will continue to take a lead in bringing the football authorities and the legal system together to tackle online abuse,” the anti-racism organisation said in a statement. “But what the public need most is Twitter to show decisive leadership and deliver concrete action for change – we expect to see that in the weeks and months ahead.

“Online discrimination will not be resolved overnight but we have collectively agreed on the following actions as a first step to ensure the issue is tackled effectively.

“We will hold a meeting with the UK football policing unit and the Crown Prosecution Service to discuss how we can best develop a collaborative, efficient approach to identifying and punishing anyone who posts discriminatory abuse on Twitter.

“We are inviting the football authorities – including the Football Association, the Premier League and the English Football League – to meet Twitter alongside Kick It Out and to agree a collective action plan of what will be done to tackle online discrimination effectively.

“Twitter have agreed to use their platform and resources to support our specific campaigning work around football-related online discrimination.”

The Professional Footballers’ Association has called on social media networks to provide “targeted monitoring of player accounts, club accounts, key fixtures and tournaments to address any racist abuse promptly”. It said it wanted “sufficient resources dedicated” to achieve this.