England Lionesses' Jess Carter says social media platforms ‘need to do better' after facing racial abuse online

CNBC

7 hours ago

England Lioness and Gotham FC defender Jess Carter said social media companies can do more to police hate comments online after she faced racial abuse during the Euro 2025 tournament.
Carter, a defender for the American soccer team Gotham FC, is part of the England women's national team, nicknamed the "Lionesses," that just secured a historic win in the Euro 2025 championships after defeating Spain on penalties in the final in Switzerland in July.
Carter had to take a step back from social media after facing intense racial abuse during the tournament and in an interview with CNBC's Tania Bryer, she shared how she's dealing with the online attacks.
"I'm not someone who normally takes myself off social media, because I'm used to the critics and used to getting some of the abuse that we get as athletes and people in the public eye, as it happens a lot," Carter told Bryer.
"So this time around, I think the way that I dealt with it was just to completely take myself off social media so that I wasn't able to see anything that was said and I could just focus on what was being said within my camp," she added.
The England women's team came out in support of Carter after the abuse and decided not to take the knee — an anti-racism gesture — before the Euro 2025 matches, saying it is "clear we and football need to find another way to tackle racism."
Carter said that online abuse can be overlooked, whereas if it were happening on the street, it would be treated as a hate crime.
"I think social media companies need to do better at protecting people in the public eye. I think that the amount of abuse that we get, not even just me, but that everyone in the public eye gets, is extraordinary, and it's not okay," she said.
"The social media platforms can do better to recognize those people that are sharing the abuse and prosecute them the way that they should be if this was in the street."
She lauded tech giant Meta for monitoring her social media and blocking hate messages sooner, but said it needs to be addressed more efficiently. "More needs to be done in the beginning to prevent that from happening."
Carter advised those who are dealing with abuse on social media to lean on family and friends and to speak up.
"Part of me wishes I spoke up about it earlier. It started right from the beginning of the France game, because after I had spoken up about it, I maybe didn't realize that I did need the support. I thought 'I'll just handle this by myself. It'll be fine.'
"Then actually after speaking up about it, having the support from my team and my family, and friends really helped get me through it," Carter told Bryer. "I didn't realize I needed support at the time, and speaking up about it helped get me through and not make me feel so isolated."
Carter said the support and positivity from fans was instrumental in getting her through the rest of the tournament.
On inclusivity in sports, Carter pointed out that she is a believer in equal access to opportunities and didn't know much about women's football growing up.
"In fact, I didn't know anything about women's football. I didn't know I could be a professional footballer until I joined for Birmingham at 16, and so I think about making it more accessible for everybody, regardless of where you're from," she added.