Facebook and Twitter hand over details of racist trolls who abused England players to police

The personal details of the racist trolls who abused England players following the Euros 2020 final on Sunday night have been handed over to the police by Facebook and Twitter.

The social media platforms confirmed that they have been ‘working very closely’ with investigating police officers, who say they are digging into ‘dozens’ of people’s racist tweets after five people were arrested in the wake of Sunday’s final.

The Times reported that both platforms will be providing names, emails and IP addresses of users who are believed to have sent discriminatory messages if requested by the authorities.

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Chief Constable Mark Roberts, the National Police Chiefs’ Council football policing lead, the person to confirm the news, said on the matter: “The racial abuse aimed at our own players following Sunday night’s game is utterly vile and has quite rightly shocked and appalled people across the country. I’m disgusted there are individuals out there who think it’s acceptable to direct such abhorrent abuse at them, or at anybody else.

“The UKFPU investigation is well under way and work continues to identify those responsible. We are working very closely with social media platforms, who are providing the data we need to progress inquiries.

“If we identify that you are behind this crime, we will track you down and you will face the serious consequences of your shameful actions.”

Earlier in the week, we reported that a man from Manchester had been arrested after racially-motivated posts were found on his Facebook page in the aftermath of the match.

The suspect, confirmed to be aged thirty-seven and from Ashton-Upon-Mersey, handed himself in at Cheadle Heath police station on July 14th, the force announced. He was subsequently arrested on suspicion of an offence under Section 1 of the Malicious Communications Act and put into custody for questioning.

Detective Inspector Matt Gregory of GMP’s Trafford division said in a statement: “The actions of a small number of people overshadowed what was a hugely unifying event for our country on Sunday evening. We are firm in our commitment, any racist abuse whether online or off is not acceptable.

“We now have one man in custody and our investigation continues. If you think you have information on this post, we’d like to hear from you on 0161 856 4973, quoting incident number 109 of 12/7/2021. You can also anonymously contact the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.”