South Yorkshire Police are investigating an allegation of online racial abuse aimed at Sheffield United striker Rhian Brewster.
A statement said: “This afternoon (Friday 21 October), we were made aware of an allegation of a racially motivated message being sent to an individual on the evening of Saturday 15 October. Enquiries into the allegation continue at this time.”
Earlier on Friday, Sheffield United confirmed they had reported the abuse to Instagram.
A statement on the club’s website read: “It is with regret that we report that striker Rhian Brewster has been the subject of racial abuse via social media.
“Rhian is a member of the Blades family and the club is disgusted by the messages, which have been reported to the police and Instagram.
“He will now be offered support and assistance as we push the relevant authorities to ensure the person behind these posts is brought to justice.
“Sheffield United has a zero-tolerance approach to racism and any form of discrimination.
“It is currently Black History Month and Rhian recently took part in a special podcast alongside fellow players Wes Foderingham and Courtney Sweetman-Kirk to discuss a wide range of topics, including racism in the game today.”
The Blades are also working with the police in relation to alleged racist comments made towards defender Kyron Gordon following their game at Hull City in September.
The Football Association urged social media companies to take action to prevent online abuse.
A spokesperson said: “We’re disgusted that yet again racist abuse has been directed towards a player.
“The frequency of these incidents is alarming and we urge social media companies to increase their efforts in prevention and for relevant authorities to take strong action. We stand with you, Rhian.”
Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, said it had removed comments aimed at Brewster and deleted accounts of online abusers.
A Meta spokesperson said: “We don’t want racist abuse on Instagram. We removed several comments directed at Rhian Brewster earlier this week for breaking our rules, and we’ve deleted the accounts of the people who posted them.
“We’re also in direct contact with Sheffield United to support however we can, including offering training in how to get the most out of our safety tools.
“While no one thing will fix racism overnight, we want to keep making progress, and just yesterday announced a set of new features to help protect public figures, including the ability to block multiple accounts in one go, and encouraging people to be respectful in direct messages.”
On Monday, Meta said it condemned racist abuse sent to Ivan Toney on Instagram but insisted it could not take action because the message had not been reported within the app.
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