On Friday, former France national team player Thierry Henry announced the closure of all his social media accounts, hoping that his decision would inspire others in the fight against racism and cyberbullying.
The former Arsenal and Barcelona striker, who has 15 million followers on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, said he would disable his accounts, and called on those platforms to address issues of racism and bullying with the same effort they make in combating copyright-infringing material, according to the agency. Reuters.
Henry (43 years) pointed out that “social media” has become a weapon for anonymous account holders.
He told CNN Sport of America: “Social media is not a safe place. I wanted to take a stand to say that it is an important tool that unfortunately some people turn into a weapon because they hide behind fake accounts.”
Regarding the decision to close his accounts on social media, Thierry Henry said, “I did what I felt, and I hope he inspires people to do the same.”
Henry, who suffered racist abuse during his playing career, indicated that he was inspired by former heavyweight boxing champion, Muhammad Ali, who spoke alongside his fearsome reputation as a fighter, against racism, war and religious intolerance.
He added, “Muhammad Ali did not want to go to war, and did not wait to see if everyone supported him, and this is what he felt, and I am not close to this caliber, but I told myself, Terry, this is what you feel, you feel strongly.”
English football governing bodies said in February that Twitter, Facebook and Instagram had become a “haven for abuse” and urged social media companies to address the problem in the wake of racist messages directed at players.
On the other hand, Instagram announced a series of measures to address online violations, while Twitter, which has taken action on more than 700 cases of “abuses and hateful behavior” related to football in Britain in 2019, promised to continue its efforts to curb the problem.