CBC reported<\/a>. The network quoted a company spokesperson who said it was important to note there are differences between offensive speech and speech that can lead to violence, and that the company did not believe its role is to regulate what is offensive.<\/p>\n\u201cRacist abuse is unacceptable and has no place on our platforms. We\u2019ve developed several tools to help protect people from having to see abuse, including Hidden Words, which filters offensive comments and message requests,\u201d Meta spokesperson Julia Perreira wrote in an email to TSN. \u201cNo one thing will stop racist behaviour overnight, but we\u2019ll continue working to protect our community from abuse.\u201d <\/p>\n
Canada coach Jesse Marsch said the abuse directed at Bombito left him devastated.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnyone who\u2019s met Mo\u00efse Bombito can\u2019t help but be incredibly impressed with his magnetism, his positivity, the energy of who he is,\u201d Marsch said. \u201cIt infuriated me. I cried. I was back in my hotel room, crying when I heard about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Several Canadian players say they are not asking to be shielded from criticism. They say they understand that poor performances and mistakes invite scrutiny.<\/p>\n
But they say direct racist abuse and death threats should not be treated as an unavoidable part of elite sport.<\/p>\n
Midfielder Liam Millar said his phone \u201cwas going crazy\u201d after he missed a penalty against Venezuela during Copa America. Millar said he received similar abuse after missing a chance against Jamaica during World Cup qualifying in 2021.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose are probably the worst,\u201d he said. \u201cObviously, I got a lot of, \u2018You\u2019re useless, you\u2019re terrible.\u2019 I got a couple death threats, like, \u2018You should die,\u2019 and all this stuff, which, for me, is obviously too far.\u201d<\/p>\n
Millar said people are entitled to opinions about players and performances, but threats and racist messages should carry consequences.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone has a right to their own opinion,\u201d he said. \u201cObviously, when it becomes death threats or racial or anything, it\u2019s obviously not acceptable whatsoever. I think that deserves a punishment, because for me, it\u2019s unacceptable to treat anybody in this way.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Richie Laryea Gabriel Suazo Richie Laryea Gabriel Suazo Canada Chile <\/p>\n
Toronto FC defender Richie Laryea said he was targeted after Canada\u2019s 2024 Copa America match against Chile, when a Chilean player was sent off after a challenge on him. <\/p>\n
Canada advanced, but Laryea said that when he opened Instagram afterward, his notifications had been overwhelmed by racist messages and comments.<\/p>\n
His wife, Melanie, said the attacks regularly include monkey emojis and other racist messages. She said many are posted under photos of their son.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s heartbreaking,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s a feeling you get in your gut as soon as you open up your social media and you see it. Most of the comments are on pictures of my son, which are even worse.\u201d<\/p>\n
Melanie said she has reported racist posts to Meta but has been told repeatedly that the company has not concluded the content violates its rules.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou get a message back saying it\u2019s under review, and then about a week later they say, \u2018We didn\u2019t find anything wrong with this,\u2019\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
That response, players say, is part of the problem. They argue platforms have built global communication systems that allow abuse to reach athletes instantly, but haven\u2019t created sufficient accountability for the people who send it.<\/p>\n
Laryea said many users hide behind burner accounts with no profile picture, no followers and no obvious connection to their real identity.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re cowards,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you want to act like that, then have your picture up. Say it like a man, versus hiding behind a screen with zero followers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Midfielder Stephen Eustaquio said social media companies may be trying to limit abuse, but users can easily return after an account is deleted.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf an account is deleted, obviously the same person\u2026 can create a different account, put a picture on that profile that\u2019s not theirs, and just harm whoever they want,\u201d Eustaquio said. \u201cThey can be whatever age, which for me, it\u2019s concerning.\u201d<\/p>\n
Several players also said the rise of online sports gambling has intensified the abuse. <\/p>\n
Eustaquio said players often receive threats from bettors when results go against them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat comes with betting,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s unfortunate, but it\u2019s something that\u2019s out there.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Stephen Eustaquio Canada Gold Cup <\/p>\n
Other countries have taken more aggressive steps to confront online hate directed at soccer players.<\/p>\n
In the United Kingdom, police created a special unit to address online abuse of professional footballers after several of England\u2019s Black players were targeted with racist messages following the team\u2019s loss in the Euro 2020 final.<\/p>\n
Sam Baker, hate crime lead with the United Kingdom Football Policing Unit, said his department has worked on nearly 1,200 cases since 2022, more than 80 per cent of them involving racism.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople have to realize they can\u2019t just go around saying what they want,\u201d Baker said.<\/p>\n
Baker said British police can ask social media companies, including Meta and X, for information such as IP addresses linked to offensive posts. Cases can be difficult to prove, particularly when accounts are overseas or when multiple people share one IP address. <\/p>\n
But some have resulted in prosecutions, public identification, stadium bans, fines and prison sentences.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot only are you getting a ban order,\u201d Baker said. \u201cYou then get named and shamed. People have lost their jobs because of this. Friends and family think of them differently.\u201d<\/p>\n
Unlike in the U.K., where police can approach social media companies directly, Canadian police must first obtain a judicial warrant before pursuing IP address information.<\/p>\n
On June 10, the federal government tabled Bill C-34<\/a>, its latest version of an Online Harms Bill. If the bill passes, it would impose new regulatory obligations on operators of social media and AI chatbots in Canada. The legislation would require companies to mitigate harmful contact on their services, assess user reports of harmful content within 24 hours, and disclose each report made. <\/p>\nIf the bill passes, companies would also be required to disclose reports of harmful content, their circumstances, and how they were addressed.<\/p>\n
Hermine Landry, press secretary for Canadian Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture Marc Miller, wrote in a statement to TSN that there has been a \u201chorrifying rise in hate crimes in our communities.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one, including athletes, should feel unsafe because of who they are, how they worship, or where they gather,\u201d Landry wrote. \u201cWe encourage Canadians to reach out directly to online platforms to learn more about their safety rules and measures they have in place to protect users and address harmful content.\u201d<\/p>\n
Several Canadian players say they\u2019d like to see more consequences in Canada for those who post racist messages and threats.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re going to be held accountable, then you\u2019re not going to do it,\u201d midfielder Isma\u00ebl Kon\u00e9 said. \u201cYou\u2019re going to think twice before doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Promise David, a Canadian forward who plays club soccer in Belgium for Union SG, said he receives racist messages online every day. He, too, said publicly identifying people who send racist abuse would likely reduce the number of attacks.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe element of people being named publicly and held accountable for their actions would definitely lower the cases,\u201d David said.<\/p>\n
Bombito said stronger accountability could also protect players who are more deeply affected by abuse.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy holding them accountable, it\u2019s just going to be like, \u2018Okay, yeah, I can\u2019t do that stuff. It\u2019s not right,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cSome other people are not as strong-minded as me and can be really affected by what happened. I feel like it\u2019s something that can be really prevented.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marsch said any response must balance the need to confront hate speech with freedom of expression. But he said the current environment, in which people can send hateful messages with little apparent consequence, is unacceptable.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want anyone to be able to put hate speech out there, but you have to be careful as well, because I still do believe in freedom of speech,\u201d Marsch said. \u201cI don\u2019t want to be social police. I don\u2019t want to create that. But I do want to create pressure for people to behave in a way that creates decorum and respectfulness in our society.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Players on the Canadian men\u2019s national soccer team are calling on social media companies and the federal government…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":741754,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,9221,5522,561,1942,82],"class_list":["post-741753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-hate","tag-racism","tag-soccer","tag-social-media","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=741753"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741753\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/741754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=741753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=741753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=741753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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CTV National News: Bombito faces racism online <\/p>\n