Abuse in football: Kick It Out head says English game is at ‘crisis point’ over abuse
KIO received record discrimination reports in a season 2023-24, with levels of sexism, misogyny and racism all rising.
In all levels of British football matches, the organization reported 1,332 incidents – a 32% increase. Racism remains the most discriminatory form, with abuses on all levels increasing by 47%.
“These are football players, but they are also real humans, and when you see the abuse they face, it’s totally unacceptable,” Okafor said.
“We conducted a study of 1,500 female fans and a quarter still felt unsafe. 52% said they experienced sexism in the stadium. So there is still a lot of cultural work to do, to Make the game more inclusive.
“People especially share their freedom of toxic and discriminatory sexual abuse online.”
But rules in the Online Security Act 2023, which will take effect later this year, have forced social media companies to show that they are removing illegal content, and their platforms do not implement measures until March or face fines.
“We believe this will give regulators more power to enable social media company accounts as well as to provide better user authorization tools,” Okafor said.
“It’s really important because you can see the impact of it. So, it’s a real opportunity to solve this problem. It can be a game changer.”
Tech giant Meta recently announced that it has abandoned the use of independent fact checkers on Facebook and Instagram to frustrate campaigners with hate speech online.
“That really caused me trouble,” Okafor said. “It really made the work harder.
“That’s why we need regulators to use their powers to really get social media companies to calculate and issue these penalties.”
