Prince William joins football’s social media boycott in protest at abuse of players

PRINCE William has joined a football social media boycott in protest at online abuse of players.

The FA, Premier League, EFL and the women’s game will turn off Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for four days. 

They are calling on social media firms to stem the “relentless” flow of abuse.

In an act of unity, The Celeb Report will stop posting on our Twitter accounts from 3pm today until 11.59pm on Monday.

Prince William has now announced he will also take part in the boycott.

He tweeted: “As President of the FA I join the entire football community in the social media boycott this weekend.”

The post on the official Duke and Duchess of Cambridge page was signed off by ‘W’ – showing the royal had written it.

The royal, who is the president of the Football Association and an avid Aston Villa fan, is the latest big name to speak out ahead of the boycott this weekend.

France’s Thierry Henry, who has led the charge for big tech reform, said he was “thrilled” by the show of strength.

He said: “It is a powerful statement.”

Writing in today’s Sun, Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden warns social media giants to act or face the consequences.

Under his Online Safety Bill, companies could be shut down if they fail to remove abuse. 

He writes: “Under the legislation, if social media companies fail to keep their promises to users – if they don’t quickly remove racist abuse, for example – they will face severe sanctions.

“For the very worst failures, they could have their sites blocked.

“They could also face huge fines of up to ten percent of annual global turnover.

“For a company like Facebook or YouTube, that could be billions.”

He continues: “English football coming off social media is a powerful statement.

“Everything that tries to destroy the beauty and the happiness of our game — we should fight it.

“This is my happiest moment. Football stands for something. Not only money.”