Social Media Blackout

This weekend, from 3pm Friday until midnight on Monday, many football outlets and fans will be stepping away from social media in protest of the failure from the social media companies towards discrimination and abuse towards minorities and the general bigoted abuse spewed out on a daily basis towards many people on the platform, and in particular in the footballing world. I had spent much of the week deciding whether to join this, and ultimately I have decided that I will also take NextGoalWinner on hiatus from social media for the weekend, to join this protest and hopefully contribute and play a part in forcing the major companies to change.

There were several reasons why I wanted to join the protest, however I also can completely understand the arguments against going ‘silent’ from those who disagree with this form of protest. For myself, I think I need to take the time to educate myself towards what I can do to be more helpful in this fight against discrimination. Obviously, being silent is not perhaps the best way of fighting against something as big as this issue, however I don’t think that another white male is in a real position to give an opinion and force my thoughts and feelings onto those who have actual experience of this abuse. Instead, I will read up on the people doing actual work to stop this abuse, and hopefully be able to write about these groups in the next post on Monday at midnight. The primary reason I wanted to join the silence in stepping away, is that I honestly believe that the only way for social media companies to put regulations in place that prevent abuse, is by leaving the platform. Taking a weekend away from Twitter and Instagram will hit the advertisers, and consequently will impact the companies revenues. As we have seen from the past week or so with the ESL protest, hitting these major companies and CEO’s in the pocket is where true change can occur. So, if just taking a few days away hurts their advertising revenue, then the collective power of leaving the site for a period of time will show that millions of people are sick of experiencing this abuse, or even just witnessing it happening to other people.

As I say, I’m in no position to tell people how to feel, as I am fortunate enough to not experience this abuse online like so many others do, however I tire of seeing these respected people and even idols of mine abused for no reason other than idiotic bigotry. From black players being racially abused for missing a chance, the women’s game being mocked despite the immense quality on display each and every week, through to the vile abuse directed at pundits and writers who have legitimate and often factually correct opinions and works disregarded for gender, race or sexuality, enough is enough.

I don’t expect me not tweeting to my 100+ followers to even make a molecule of change, however by being a part of this weekends protest, we will hopefully see some steps beginning to be taken online to prevent this anonymous vile drivel from continuing. I want to be able to have verified human beings on the site having rational discussion, disagreements and banter about the great sport I love, untarnished by idiotic egg profiles littering the place with horrendous abuse that needs eradicating from society.

So, to summarise, NextGoalWinner will be away from social media for the weekend from today through Monday in the hope that making stands like this shows the big companies we are all sick of this ability to remain anonymous and abuse others. I understand those who disagree with staying silent, however I think leaving the site for a while could impact the finances of the companies which will speed any changes up significantly, while I think it’s my duty to read up elsewhere online about the organisations and individuals fighting online abuse and abuse within the game this weekend, and can hopefully return from Monday with a more educated and aware mindset of things I can do online to help. This is not just a meagre gesture to join the crowd in protesting, we need change and we need to press-on. Monday doesn’t just bring the end of things until the next protest, we need to report constantly, block those spouting obscenities at others and just become better humans.

Let’s hope this brings some change, and we keep fighting until completely eradicated.