Social media companies not doing enough to protect England players from racism, says FA chief
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Social media companies are still not doing enough to prevent England players from suffering racist abuse online, according to FA chief executive Mark Bullingham.
Lionesses defender Jess Carter revealed before England's semi-final against Italy that she had received 'vile' and "abhorrent" racist abuse during Euro 2025.
It came four years after Bukayo Saka, Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho were sent racist abuse after missing penalties in England's Euro 2020 final defeat to Italy.
open image in gallery Jess Carter was sent abuse on social media during Euro 2025
( Getty )
Bullingham said the FA thought 'things would improve' following the Euro 2020 final, after conversations with social media platforms, but believes there has not been enough progress.
The FA are working with the UK police following the abuse received by Carter and Bullingham said they want government regulator Ofcom to use the powers it now has under the Online Safety Act 2023 to 'hold social media companies to account' following the abuse.
Under the Online Safety Act, social media platforms have a duty to protect users from harmful content such as racism and Ofcom are responsible for enforcing the legislation if there are breaches.
'We did think things would improve [after 2021] and we lobbied very hard together with Kick It Out and other representatives in football to make sure the online harms act came through,' Bullingham said.
'I think we would have liked it to have been stronger in some cases – if you look at the specific areas like 'legal but harmful'. There's a real risk that if we're not firm in how the act is implemented, it won't be as strong as we hope.
'I think now it's incumbent on Ofcom to make sure they really do bring those responsible for running social media platforms to account and I haven't seen huge progress in the last couple of years. We would like to see it now.'
England defender Lotte Wubben-Moy said she would be joining Carter by stepping away from social media, posting that she would 'not continue to feed the very platform that enables abuse with no consequence'.
open image in gallery Mark Bullingham and Sir Keir Starmer with England's players before Euro 2025
( Getty Images )
The FA joined a mass boycott of social media, led by football players, clubs and leagues in 2021, and while Bullingham did not rule out taking such action again in the future, he pointed that it is down to regulators to step in.
'I think we'll look at any tool within our disposal, to make a difference,' said Bullingham, who confirmed he had yet to hear directly from any of the social media platforms following the abuse suffered by Carter during Euro 2025.
'I think what you've got now, that's different to before, is you've got the online safety act and online harms act that I think we're very keen to see how Ofcom start implementing measures to bring personal accountability to those that are running social media companies,
'Within that, so I think there are different tools at our disposal now and we'll definitely be pursuing those.'
While the FA are working with UK police following the abuse suffered by Carter, many of the hateful posts are likely to have also come from abroad, with Bullingham underlined the challenges in tackling social media abuse by saying that prosecuting anyone outside the UK can be 'really hard and generally really expensive'.
He added: 'There's been a lot of focus on taking down content - and I think they [social media platforms] could be much better at taking down content - but more importantly, I think they could be much better at preventing it as well, and then in aiding the prosecution when it happens. So at all stages they need to be better.'
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