Social media companies have come under increasing pressure to remove racist abuse from their platforms after widespread outrage at the treatment of England footballers.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson met social media companies – including representatives from Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok – on Tuesday afternoon for talks focused on the fallout from England’s defeat to Italy in Sunday's Euro 2020 final.
Mr Johnson said in the House of Commons on Wednesday new legislation would give the government the power to fine social media companies up to 10 per cent of their global revenues if they do not get hate off their platforms.
He also said the government would change existing football banning orders to ensure that people found guilty of racist abuse against players are banned from games.
"What we're doing is today taking practical steps to ensure that the Football Banning Order regime is changed so that if you were guilty ... of racist abuse online of footballers then you will not be going to the match, no ifs, no buts, no exemptions and no excuses," he said.
Earlier, the prime minister's spokesman said the online abuse of black players Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka was “utterly disgraceful and had emerged from the dark spaces of the internet”.
He said big tech bosses needed to “up their game” in identifying perpetrators of abuse.
The controversy reignited calls for the government to remove online anonymity before introducing a new bill forcing social media companies to clamp down on racism.
The Online Safety Bill includes a “duty of care”, with social media companies required to take measures to tackle illegal abuse.
The regulator Ofcom would be given the power to fine companies that fail to take action up to £18 million ($24m) or up to 10 per cent of global revenue.
Centre for Digital Hate identified 105 accounts on Instagram that had directed racist abuse at Rashford, Sancho and Saka in the hours after the final. Analysis showed 59 of those were set up outside Britain.
People across the UK spoke out in support of the footballers, including in Rashford's hometown of Withington in Manchester, where a mural of the footballer was daubed with offensive graffiti.
England footballer Harry Maguire said on Wednesday social media companies should be forced to verify the identities behind every account.
“Something needs to be done. The companies need to verify every account,” he said.
“It is too easy to troll and abuse.”
Maguire said it was far too easy to be racist on those platforms and get away with it.
Britain's main opposition Labour party called for online racists to be banned from attending football matches.
It wants the courts to be given new powers to bring perpetrators to justice.
Only those who shout abuse in football grounds can be barred from attending games.
Shadow Culture Secretary Jo Stevens said the government’s plans failed to tackle the problem.
“The racists who have been abusing England players online should be banned from football grounds,” she said. “They do not deserve to be anywhere near a game of football.”
Social media companies were also under pressure from a petition on the UK government website calling for a mandatory verification of a user’s identity before an account could be created.
It has attracted more than 666,000 signatures, with tens of thousands signing after the England v Italy match.
The government previously said user ID verification could “disproportionately impact vulnerable users and interfere with freedom of expression”.
Critics of social media verification say the Arab uprising in 2010 could not have happened if users had been forced to identify themselves.
A separate petition to ban racists permanently from football matches passed 1 million signatures in two days.
Football fans Shaista Aziz, Amna Abdullatif and Huda Jawad, who created the petition, said England's Football Association and the government should set “very clear red lines” on racist abuse.
Meanwhile, influential Conservative MP Steve Baker said the racism storm "may be a decisive moment" for the party.
He said his party should rethink its attitude towards 'taking the knee' – a symbolic gesture against racism practised by many footballers in the seconds before matches kick off.
“Much as we can’t be associated with calls to defund the police, we urgently need to challenge our own attitude to people taking a knee,” he said.
His intervention comes as Home Secretary Priti Patel was accused by England footballer Tyrone Mings of “stoking the fire” of racism after she dismissed taking the knee as “gesture politics”.
"You don't get to stoke the fire at the beginning of the tournament by labelling our anti-racism message as 'gesture politics' and then pretend to be disgusted when the very thing we're campaigning against, happens,” he said.
Stuck in a job without a pay rise? Here's what to do
Chris Greaves, the managing director of Hays Gulf Region, says those without a pay rise for an extended period must start asking questions – both of themselves and their employer.
“First, are they happy with that or do they want more?” he says. “Job-seeking is a time-consuming, frustrating and long-winded affair so are they prepared to put themselves through that rigmarole? Before they consider that, they must ask their employer what is happening.”
Most employees bring up pay rise queries at their annual performance appraisal and find out what the company has in store for them from a career perspective.
Those with no formal appraisal system, Mr Greaves says, should ask HR or their line manager for an assessment.
“You want to find out how they value your contribution and where your job could go,” he says. “You’ve got to be brave enough to ask some questions and if you don’t like the answers then you have to develop a strategy or change jobs if you are prepared to go through the job-seeking process.”
For those that do reach the salary negotiation with their current employer, Mr Greaves says there is no point in asking for less than 5 per cent.
“However, this can only really have any chance of success if you can identify where you add value to the business (preferably you can put a monetary value on it), or you can point to a sustained contribution above the call of duty or to other achievements you think your employer will value.”
Babumoshai Bandookbaaz
Director: Kushan Nandy
Starring: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Bidita Bag, Jatin Goswami
Three stars
Manchester City transfers:
OUTS
Pablo Zabaleta, Bacary Sagna, Gael Clichy, Willy Caballero and Jesus Navas (all released)
INS
Ederson (Benfica) £34.7m, Bernardo Silva (Monaco) £43m
ON THEIR WAY OUT?
Joe Hart, Eliaquim Mangala, Samir Nasri, Wilfried Bony, Fabian Delph, Nolito and Kelechi Iheanacho
ON THEIR WAY IN?
Dani Alves (Juventus), Alexis Sanchez (Arsenal)
Rock in a Hard Place: Music and Mayhem in the Middle East
Orlando Crowcroft
Zed Books
The National Archives, Abu Dhabi
Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.
Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en
Things Heard & Seen
Directed by: Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini
Starring: Amanda Seyfried, James Norton
2/5
FROM%20THE%20ASHES
%3Cp%3EDirector%3A%20Khalid%20Fahad%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EStarring%3A%20Shaima%20Al%20Tayeb%2C%20Wafa%20Muhamad%2C%20Hamss%20Bandar%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ERating%3A%203%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The bio
Date of Birth: April 25, 1993
Place of Birth: Dubai, UAE
Marital Status: Single
School: Al Sufouh in Jumeirah, Dubai
University: Emirates Airline National Cadet Programme and Hamdan University
Job Title: Pilot, First Officer
Number of hours flying in a Boeing 777: 1,200
Number of flights: Approximately 300
Hobbies: Exercising
Nicest destination: Milan, New Zealand, Seattle for shopping
Least nice destination: Kabul, but someone has to do it. It’s not scary but at least you can tick the box that you’ve been
Favourite place to visit: Dubai, there’s no place like home
VERSTAPPEN'S FIRSTS
Youngest F1 driver (17 years 3 days Japan 2014)
Youngest driver to start an F1 race (17 years 166 days – Australia 2015)
Youngest F1 driver to score points (17 years 180 days - Malaysia 2015)
Youngest driver to lead an F1 race (18 years 228 days – Spain 2016)
Youngest driver to set an F1 fastest lap (19 years 44 days – Brazil 2016)
Youngest on F1 podium finish (18 years 228 days – Spain 2016)
Youngest F1 winner (18 years 228 days – Spain 2016)
Youngest multiple F1 race winner (Mexico 2017/18)
Youngest F1 driver to win the same race (Mexico 2017/18)
MATCH INFO
What: 2006 World Cup quarter-final
When: July 1
Where: Gelsenkirchen Stadium, Gelsenkirchen, Germany
Result:
England 0 Portugal 0
(Portugal win 3-1 on penalties)
In%20the%20Land%20of%20Saints%20and%20Sinners
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ERobert%20Lorenz%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Liam%20Neeson%2C%20Kerry%20Condon%2C%20Jack%20Gleeson%2C%20Ciaran%20Hinds%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Fixtures
Tuesday - 5.15pm: Team Lebanon v Alger Corsaires; 8.30pm: Abu Dhabi Storms v Pharaohs
Wednesday - 5.15pm: Pharaohs v Carthage Eagles; 8.30pm: Alger Corsaires v Abu Dhabi Storms
Thursday - 4.30pm: Team Lebanon v Pharaohs; 7.30pm: Abu Dhabi Storms v Carthage Eagles
Friday - 4.30pm: Pharaohs v Alger Corsaires; 7.30pm: Carthage Eagles v Team Lebanon
Saturday - 4.30pm: Carthage Eagles v Alger Corsaires; 7.30pm: Abu Dhabi Storms v Team Lebanon
Married Malala
Malala Yousafzai is enjoying married life, her father said.
The 24-year-old married Pakistan cricket executive Asser Malik last year in a small ceremony in the UK.
Ziauddin Yousafzai told The National his daughter was ‘very happy’ with her husband.
LAST-16 FIXTURES
Sunday, January 20
3pm: Jordan v Vietnam at Al Maktoum Stadium, Dubai
6pm: Thailand v China at Hazza bin Zayed Stadium, Al Ain
9pm: Iran v Oman at Mohamed bin Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi
Monday, January 21
3pm: Japan v Saudi Arabia at Sharjah Stadium
6pm: Australia v Uzbekistan at Khalifa bin Zayed Stadium, Al Ain
9pm: UAE v Kyrgyzstan at Zayed Sports City Stadium, Abu Dhabi
Tuesday, January 22
5pm: South Korea v Bahrain at Rashid Stadium, Dubai
8pm: Qatar v Iraq at Al Nahyan Stadium, Abu Dhabi
