Manchester United’s Romelu Lukaku calls for meeting on social media extremism

Manchester United striker Romelu Lukaku has called for football players and chief executives of social media companies to meet in a statement released Thursday on the social media sites he uses.

Since being forced to leave his phone at home by English Football Association rules at Euro 2016 this summer because of football’s new anti-tampering rules, Lukaku said he has turned to Twitter, WhatsApp and Instagram for some tweets.

Lukaku says Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive of Twitter Inc. Jack Dorsey and Instagram head Adam Mosseri should not deny that people of all ethnicities use their platforms and that they should speak out against racism.

“Let us tackle racism, hate speech and discrimination with a bolder approach rather than keeping our head in the sand,” he said. “It’s about time the heads of Instagram, Twitter and Facebook spoke up and become part of the solution rather than standing on the sidelines and making vague ‘condemnation’ statements.

“The abuse and trolling needs to stop and it’s about time the heads of Instagram, Twitter and Facebook stood up and made an official statement condemning these issues and pointing the finger at the offenders. Until then, I just can’t find enough words to express my frustration.”

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