Taking the knee past its time, says David Lammy after Jess Carter abuse

The time for “taking the knee” as a gesture against racism has “probably passed”, David Lammy has suggested.

The Lionesses have decided not to take the knee before the semi-final against Italy on Tuesday, saying that “we and football need to find another way to tackle racism” after they revealed Jess Carter, 27, was targeted online.

Asked whether he would take the knee, the foreign secretary told Times Radio: “I think that was a moment in time after the murder of George Floyd.

“I think that moment has probably passed. I haven’t seen actually for some years people using that particular gesture.”

He acknowledged that football had come a long way since he began attending matches in the 1970s, but emphasised that the abuse faced by players — particularly women and players of colour — remained deeply troubling.

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“Clearly there is more to do and it’s distressing and very sad that these young players are receiving racism in the way that they are,” he added. “I think the overwhelming majority of people that go and watch is now very much a family game go with a pure heart and are certainly not going to dish out abuse on women playing football.”

Social media platforms have come under pressure to explain how they are protecting England’s footballing stars from racist abuse after Carter was targeted.

Posts that were displayed on Elon Musk’s X on Monday told the Warwick-born Lioness to “go back to Africa” as well as commenting on her weight and making crude sexualised jokes. Abuse was also posted on Facebook.

“From the start of the tournament, I have experienced a lot of racial abuse,” Carter said in a statement posted on Sunday. “While I feel every fan is entitled to their opinion on performance and result, I don’t agree or think it’s OK to target someone’s appearance or race.”

A source close to the Lionesses told The Times that the most serious racist abuse was sent in private messages. Carter accepts direct messages from fans on both X and Instagram.

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The FA has confirmed that police and “appropriate bodies” had been contacted, and officers were in contact with “a social media platform”. X and Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, did not respond to requests for comment.

England will not take the knee before their semi-final against Italy on Tuesday PAUL HARDING/THE FA/GETTY IMAGES

Anti-racism campaigners in football have rounded on the social media companies for failing to prevent a repeat of the abuse faced by Marcus Rashford and Bukayo Saka after the England men’s team lost the Euro 2020 final. This is despite the Online Safety Act compelling companies to take action to protect users from abuse.

Piara Powar, the executive director of Fare, football’s international anti-discrimination body, said the regulator must take action. “Ofcom gained powers to enforce action in the middle of March, but there have been no signs of any high-profile action against the social media platforms yet, so this is an important test,” he said.

“This is a platform issue — they can be fined up to £18 million or 10 per cent of their global revenue,” he told The Times. “It is a test of if the regulation is being taken seriously or not. Sadly, there will always be keyboard racists who feel able to attack a particular player.”

Research by the Centre for Countering Digital Hate, a group with offices in Washington and London, found that three quarters of accounts reported for racist abuse after the Euro 2020 final were not removed six weeks later. On Monday, the head of football’s anti-racism body said the situation had got worse.

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Other messages regarding Carter and that she should “stop eating bananas” and suggested she would “still be living in a mud hut if it wasn’t for us”.

On Facebook, a man called Carter made offensive comments about Carter’s weight and her skills before making a lewd sexual joke about the player.

Bukayo Saka was among the England men who faced abuse after the Euro 2020 final EDDIE KEOGH/THE FA/GETTY IMAGES

Sanjay Bhandari, the chair of Kick It Out’s board of trustees, said: “The social media companies need to do far more. They’ve actually gone backwards over the last four or five years, not forwards. It’s got worse on social media, not better. And they need to provide us with the tools to help keep us safe and to remove some of this toxicity from the platforms. They’re just not doing enough.

“I would say that X is the worst. It has become no-holds-barred. With Instagram, it is much more in the direct messaging, and I think there needs to be much more done there to protect people from those messages.”

Bhandari’s words were reflected by the England defender Lucy Bronze, who told a press conference: “Social media platforms need to be held accountable.”

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Sarina Wiegman, the England manager, said: “It’s really sad that we have to be occupied by this, it’s ridiculous and disgusting what’s happening. It goes beyond football, we have to support Jess. She’s not the only one who gets this abuse. That’s why she wanted to address it. She’s fully supported by the team and myself.”

Ofcom can now impose heavy fines on social media companies if they do not protect users from abuse JAKUB PORZYCKI/NURPHOTO/GETTY IMAGES

Georgia Stanway, the Lionesses midfielder, said it was important that Carter had the power to make a stand.

“She doesn’t have the power on her own … it’s the power of the Lionesses, the staff, the FA,” she said. “That’s the beauty of football, if we want to make change we can do it as a collective. As a collective we are much more powerful.”

The chief executive of the FA, Mark Bullingham, said on Sunday: “As soon as we were made aware of the racist abuse Jess received, we immediately contacted UK police. They are in touch with the relevant social media platform, and we are working with police to ensure those responsible for this hate crime are brought to justice.”

Following the passing of the Online Safety Act, social media platforms must offer optional tools for adults to help them avoid racist content that does not meet a criminal threshold.

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Ofcom has also been given new powers to levy large fines for companies who fail to protect their users, employing methods such as software to identify racist content and human moderators to check posts that are reported.

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