Rio Ferdinand and Fara Williams call for action to protect women and girls online after Lionesses deal with abuse

They spoke as research shows nearly every lioness was abused online in the run-up to their win at the UEFA Women’s Euro 2022.

In an interview with the Evening Standard, the pair expressed the importance of consequences for perpetrators when tackling the problem.

Both spoke about how online abuse has grown since their playing days, Rio said: “When social media first came out, it wasn’t somewhere you thought was a playground for people to spew hate, ignorance and abuse.

“As players, we were struck by the terraces, but it has now taken different forms.”

Fara added: “It’s bullying because they get to say what they want to say without consequences and if you hit back, what does that create?”

Rio spoke of how he has previously lost thousands of pounds in fines for defending himself against trolls who take no action.

He said: “The people who are the perpetrators do not have any responsibility.”

HateLab – which monitors hate crime and speech online – revealed that 23 of the 25 members of the Women’s Euro 2022 winning squad were being abused online by trolls.

Fara Williams was not surprised by the statistics, arguing that comparing the men’s and women’s games encourages abuse: “The fewer comparisons you make, the better in terms of abuse from fans who are more interested in the men’s game than the women. “

Rio then spoke about his experiences with online abuse a man was given a suspended sentence for racist abuse from the expert after the Euro 2020 final on Twitter: “When people start throwing the numbers out and say this is the number of people affected, they don’t really consider the wider network of that person who is also affected.”

The comments come after more than 60 of the biggest names in British sport and journalism signed an open letter written by EE calling on the new government to better protect women and girls through its proposed online safety law.

The open letter follows campaigns from EE’s Hope United – a team of elite footballers from across the UK, brought together to tackle online hate in all its forms.

It calls for additional provisions that prioritize violence against women and girls alongside terrorism and child sexual abuse material (CSAM).

Both Fara Williams and Rio Ferdinand are signatories to the open letter.

Fara noted that while they are doing their part, more needs to be done on the issue.

“There’s only so much you can do — you can’t change the platforms, you’re just trying to let them hear first-hand the effect it has.”

Rio added: “I don’t think this campaign can be limited to just football – it starts the conversation, but it’s a social issue, it’s bigger than just football.

“If football can be the catalyst for conversation, great, but it goes way beyond that.”

The Online Security Act proposed by the cabinet, currently in the reporting phase, promises to tackle forms of online abuse in a series of measures that will require social media platforms to tackle it more rigorously.

The government added an amendment to the Anonymous Abuse Bill, pledging to require Category 1 platforms to ensure adults have the ability to self-authenticate and give adults the option not to interact with unverified people. users.

The bill also states that social media platforms should do more to address racial abuse on their platforms, whether or not profiles are anonymous.

Read more about how EE tackles sexist hate online at http://ee.co.uk/hopeunited.