Premier League launches reporting system for players and staff to help fight online abuse

The Premier League has launched a new dedicated reporting system for players, managers, and their family members to help fight discriminatory abuse received on social media. The players, managers, and their family members will be able to report online abuses through the new system known as the central rapid response reporting system. The announcement was made on June 24 where the league said that each case will be reviewed and investigated and will be reported to the relevant social media company, legal action will also be taken where appropriate. The new system is developed and will be handled by the Premier League. 

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"Online discriminatory abuse is unacceptable in any walk of life and tackling this issue must be a priority. There are too many instances of footballers and their families receiving appalling discriminatory messages; nobody should have to deal with this. Our central reporting system has been developed to provide a rapid response and support for any players, managers, and coaches who have been victims of serious online discrimination, whether targeted at themselves or family members," Premier League Chief Executive Richard Masters said in a statement on its website. 

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The Premier League and its clubs will also continue to work with the police, Crown Prosecution Service, and Kick It Out, an organisation that works within the football to challenge discrimination, to identify and ban offenders from Premier League grounds.

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Racism in football

Many footballers from Premier League and other European Leagues have been victims of racism and online abuse in the past, including some big names like Marcus Rashford and Paul Pogba. "The Premier League will not tolerate discriminatory behaviour in any form and we, alongside The FA, EFL, PFA, and LMA will continue to challenge major social media companies that fail to do enough to block offensive discriminatory material and identify and ban offenders from their platforms," Masters further added in his statement. 

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