Thierry Henry has described racism on social media as “too toxic to ignore” and will disable all of his accounts on Saturday following the recent instances on the platform.
Manchester United midfielder Fred and England international Jude Bellingham were the latest footballers to suffer racist abuse on Instagram last weekend.
And former Arsenal and Barcelona striker Henry has called on the people in power to ensure social media is regulated to prevent racism and bullying taking place.
In a statement posted on Twitter and Instagram on Friday, Henry said: “Hi Guys. From tomorrow morning I will be removing myself from social media until the people in power are able to regulate their platforms with the same vigour and ferocity that they currently do when you infringe copyright.
“The sheer volume of racism, bullying and resulting mental torture to individuals is too toxic to ignore. There has to be some accountability.
“It is far too easy to create an account, use it to bully and harass without consequence and still remain anonymous. Until this changes, I will be disabling my accounts across all social platforms. I’m hoping this happens soon.”
Henry, who last month left his managerial role at Montreal Impact, has 2.3million followers on Twitter and a further 2.7million on Instagram.
Back in July, the World Cup winner took the knee for eight minutes and 46 seconds ahead of Impact’s MLS game with New England Revolution in a stand against racism following the recent death of George Floyd.
The PA news agency has contacted Twitter and Instagram for comment.
