Twitter has pledged to help fight racist abuse directed at soccer players on social media.

Twitter

Twitter

In recent months, a number of players have been targeted by racists on platforms like Twitter and Instagram, and the micro-blogging platform has insisted it's working to combat the problem.

In a statement, the company said: "Racist behaviour has no place on our service and when we identify accounts that violate any of the Twitter Rules, we take enforcement action.

"We have proactively engaged and continue to collaborate with our valued partners in football to identify ways to tackle this issue collectively and will continue to play our part in curbing this unacceptable behaviour - both online and offline."

The statement came after Marcus Rashford took to social media to reveal he'd been subjected to abusive comments online following Manchester United's goalless draw with Arsenal over the weekend.

The England star - who has more than four million Twitter followers - wrote on the micro-blogging platform: "Humanity and social media at its worst. Yes I’m a black man and I live every day proud that I am. No one, or no one comment, is going to make me feel any different. So sorry if you were looking for a strong reaction, you’re just simply not going to get it here

"I’m not sharing screenshots. It would be irresponsible to do so and as you can imagine there’s nothing original in them. I have beautiful children of all colours following me and they don’t need to read it. Beautiful colours that should only be celebrated. (sic)"

Meanwhile, The Football Association - which is responsible for governing the game in England - has pledged to clamp down on different kinds of discrimination.

It said: "We are united with all of football in our abhorrence of any racist abuse. This is not acceptable in any part of society.

"We will continue to work with the rest of the game, the government and social media platforms to remove this - and all elements of - discrimination from our sport."


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