West Brom Super Eagles defender Semi Ajayi was the victim of racist abuse on social media after Sunday’s Premier League home defeat by Liverpool.
Ajayi was part of already relegated West Brom side that lost 2-1 to Champions League-chasing Liverpool after a dramatic late goal from goalkeeper Alisson Becker.
Reacting to the incident, Ajayi wrote on his Instagram account: “Yet again, I come on Instagram to more racial abuse after a game.
“Instagram sort it out.”
In April, Instagram announced a tool to enable users to automatically filter out abusive messages from those they do not follow on the platform.
Facebook “urges” people to make use of the safety features which it says “can meaningfully decrease the abuse people experience”.
“No single thing will fix this challenge overnight but we’re committed to doing what we can to keep our community safe from abuse,” the social media company said.
A number of players in English football have been targeted by online discrimination in recent months.
In April, a four-day social media boycott by football organisations, clubs, players, other sports stars, different sports, major businesses and media outlets took place.
Earlier this month, the Premier League side said it found a 350% increase in abuse directed towards its players, with 3,300 posts targeting them during the period of September 2019 to February 2021.
On Wednesday, it was announced that social media firms will have to remove harmful content quickly or potentially face multi-billion-pound fines or even criminal action under new government legislation.
