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Highland League clubs to join football's social media boycott


By Gavin Musgrove

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The Highland League is joining others in Scottish football in the stand behind the fight against racism and trolling this weekend by agreeing to a blanket boycott of all social media platforms.

The clubs including Grantown's Strathspey Thistle will close their social media accounts later today for three days, as part of a football-wide boycott of social media channels.

A Highland League spokesperson said: "Last night's meeting of the league management committee agreed unanimously that the league and all its member clubs will operate a ban on social media posts from Friday until Monday inclusive.

"The league continues to find all forms of social media trolling beneath contempt and urges all companies to instal more stringent blocking systems.

"The league wishes to express its complete support for all those who suffer as a result of such activity and urges everyone to ensure that those victims are cared for.

"It also calls on authorities to utilise legislative action to attack this unwanted element of modern day life."

The nationwide boycott of social media in Scottish football starts at 3pm.

South of the border, The FA, Premier League, EFL, FA Women’s Super League, FA Women’s Championship, PFA, LMA, PGMOL, Kick It Out, Women in Football and the FSA, are all taking part.

The action is a direct response to the ongoing abuse received online by players and others connected to football, and the lack of action taken to prevent this by social media giants most notably Twitter and Facebook.

It is hoped the high profile joint approach will help pile pressure on the corporations to do more crack down on trolls using their platforms.

The football authorities want a range of urgent action including filtering, blocking and swift takedowns of offensive posts, an improved verification process and re-registration prevention, plus active assistance for police to identify and prosecute originators of illegal content.


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