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Abuse of Pogba, Méïte and Abraham has again put social media in the spotlight. Action is needed but solutions are complicated
On Monday Paul Pogba missed a penalty for Manchester United against Wolves and the match ended as a draw. Shortly afterwards, a number of messages – some purporting to be from Manchester United fans – appeared on Twitter abusing Pogba. They used the “n” word, replaced Pogba’s face in photographs with that of a gorilla, and told him to “go back to selling bananas in Colombia”. Soon enough, the tweets were called out by United fans and reported to Twitter. The next morning United issued a statement condemning the messages: “The individuals who expressed these views do not represent the values of our great club.” A number of United players posted messages in solidarity with Pogba and the issue of racist abuse on social media platforms became a public talking point. Continue reading...