Racism in Football Letter of Solidarity

A coalition of brands, agencies, and civil society organisations, coordinated by the Conscious Advertising Network, has issued a letter of solidarity demanding that major social media platforms take urgent action against online racism. The letter specifically references the abuse directed at England's players following a major tournament and argues that the companies funding these platforms share a responsibility to ensure user safety. The signatories demand updated hate speech policies, better enforcement, and the reporting of racist abuse as a crime by August 13, 2021.

• The document asserts that social media companies have failed to take adequate action to stop online discrimination, leaving public figures, specifically England's football players, exposed to "horrendous levels of abuse".
• The signatories argue that online racist abuse creates trauma not only for the direct targets but also for other users who encounter the content.
• The coalition claims that the responsibility for addressing this abuse extends beyond the platforms themselves to the brands, agencies, and trade bodies that provide the funding for these social networks.
• The letter demands four specific actions from the CEOs of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat: updating hate speech policies to include emojis, advertising a zero-tolerance approach to users, reporting racist abuse to police and employers as a crime, and implementing interstitials to disrupt potentially racist remarks with human checking.
• The signatories set a deadline of August 13, 2021, which coincides with the start of the 2021/22 Premier League season, for these changes to be implemented.

APA

Chilvers, K., Daykin, J., Farren, M., Dodds, J., Groves, S., Lesser, L., Lorenzon, K., Wakely, J., McDonald, S., Freeman, A., Rook, S., Blackett, K., Irwin, T., Rowlinson, K., Lloyd-Williams, J., Swayne, J., Rodwell, D., Hutchison, P., Maccallum, A., ... Turner, S. (2021). Racism in Football Letter of Solidarity. Conscious Advertising Network. https://www.consciousadnetwork.com/racism-in-football-letter-of-solidarity/

Chicago

Chilvers, Kerry, Jerry Daykin, Meg Farren, Jeff Dodds, Simon Groves, Laura Lesser, Kristian Lorenzon, et al. Racism in Football Letter of Solidarity. Conscious Advertising Network, 2021. https://www.consciousadnetwork.com/racism-in-football-letter-of-solidarity/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Chilvers |first1=Kerry |last2=Daykin |first2=Jerry |last3=Farren |first3=Meg |last4=Dodds |first4=Jeff |last5=Groves |first5=Simon |last6=Lesser |first6=Laura |last7=Lorenzon |first7=Kristian |last8=Wakely |first8=Jane |last9=McDonald |first9=Stuart |display-authors=etal |title=Racism in Football Letter of Solidarity |publisher=Conscious Advertising Network |date=14 July 2021 |url=https://www.consciousadnetwork.com/racism-in-football-letter-of-solidarity/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{chilvers2021racism, author = {Chilvers, Kerry and Daykin, Jerry and Farren, Meg and Dodds, Jeff and Groves, Simon and Lesser, Laura and Lorenzon, Kristian and Wakely, Jane and McDonald, Stuart and Freeman, Andy and Rook, Suzie and Blackett, Karen and Irwin, Tim and Rowlinson, Kate and Lloyd-Williams, Jem and Swayne, Jack and Rodwell, Darren and Hutchison, Paul and Maccallum, Alistair and Douglas, Julian and Affleck, Patrick and Downing, Ben and Malki, Layla and Newman, Catherine and Malik, Amir and McManus, John and Fox, Danielle and Portas, Mary and Schofield, Ash and Harris, Zoe and Edwards-Scott, Ellie and Thirlwell, Angus and Hardy, Lysa and Inglis, Craig and Devonshire, Sophie and Waters, Nick and Oberoi, Pia and Noah, Gayle and Southern, Luke and Collins, Claudine and O’Reilly, Garrett and Norman, Chris and Lamba, Anil and De Luca, Cole and Zander, Matt and Dudley, Julia and Mule, Paolo and Davies, Ete and King, Annette and Frogley, Sue and Young, Nadine and Cummins, Natalie and Edwards, Pete and Rosenberger, Ottokar and Cortberg, Lidya and Gallery, Chris and Joice, James and Robinson, Richard and Aragon, Dean and Donovan, Helen and JB, Laura and Shukla, Jack and Sadler, John and Randall, Claire and Caireen and Mary and Huber, Gill and Borkin, Helen and Harding, Georgia and Johnson, Adam and Djaba, Magnus and McCafferty, Chris and Rudd, Charlie and Jenkins, Sarah and Patterson, Trent and Van Dam, Paul and Warby, Sarah and Pattinson, Richard and Williams, Amy and McFarland, Lauren and Brimacombe, Stephanie and Taylor, Steve and Marus, Tara and Willis, Tommy and Smith, Nicola and Malton, Richard and May, Sarah-Jane and Metcalfe, Pete and MacKenzie, Ashley and Freedman, Beth and Marjoram, Sheryl and Foo, Jason and Morris, Huw and Bennett, Nathan and Bale, Ben and David, Abbie and Carter, Mick and Lisa and Ellie and Wright, Matt and Scaffardi, Steven and Soanes and Carpenter, Charlie and Mustafa, Jawwad and Rutherford, Simon and Pile, Hugh and Kulbok, Kenneth and Whitehouse, Lindsey and Knight, Stephen and Patel, Minal and Sleath, Tim and Hardman, Ben and Hine, Jeremy and Buttle, Tom and Kempner, Michael and Jamieson, Richard and Britton, Emily and Blowers, Sarah and Taylor, Mark and Goldberger, Cilla and Dembitz, Rob and Houghton, Jim and Widomska, MJ and Grierson, Jo and Page, Lloyd and Ganjou, Anthony and Gomez, Laura and Parkes, Laurence and Knox-Hooke, Jacob and Miller, Dominic and Edlin, Gabby and Kieran, Ruth and Hinds, Paul and Fox, Victoria and Stern, Tracey and Batchelor, Alex and Walton, Simon and Postlethwaite, Shirran and Hughes, Aidan and Blackburn, Vicky and Dodd, Oli and Turner, Sam}, title = {{Racism in Football Letter of Solidarity}}, publisher = {Conscious Advertising Network}, year = {2021}, month = jul, url = {https://www.consciousadnetwork.com/racism-in-football-letter-of-solidarity/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }