English soccer at breaking point over abuse on social media

Death threats. Racist abuse. Sexist slurs. And social media accounts allowed to stay active even after hurling bile.

English football has reached breaking point with players, coaches, referees and officials aghast at the ongoing proliferation of hate aimed at them on Instagram and Twitter.

A week that began with the Premier League's most-high profile referee reporting threats of physical harm to police then saw more Black players targeted by racist users, and a pledge by Instagram to clamp down on hate undercut by leniency shown toward abusers.

It's why English football leaders have taken their concerns to the top of the social media giants, uniting for an unprecedented joint letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter counterpart Jack Dorsey that demands the platforms stop being “havens for abuse" by taking tougher action to eradicate the viciousness.

“Your inaction has created the belief in the minds of the anonymous perpetrators that they are beyond reach,” read the letter whose signatories include officials from the English Football Association, the Premier League, Women's Super League and the organizations representing players, managers and referees.

One of world football's leading anti-discrimination officials believes it could be time to log off until meaningful action is taken.

“What they probably need to do now is to have their own boycott,” said Piara Powar, executive director of the FARE network. "Can you imagine if Premier League clubs, even symbolically for one day this year called for a boycott of social media use by their fans, didn’t post anything for a day, and then kept doing that until the platforms showed some serious intent?

“Because there’s no question, although the issues in football are probably a scratch on the back of...