An investigation by Twitter into racist tweets levied against three Black players on the English football team following the national hopefuls’ loss against Italy last month revealed that anonymity played almost no role in whether users posted abusive comments from their accounts.
The analysis, which revealed that 99 percent of the accounts that Twitter suspended were not anonymous, provides the latest evidence that requiring real identities on social media platforms will not lead to any measurable decrease in online abuse.
“While we have always welcomed the opportunity to hear ideas from partners on what will help, including from within the football community, our data suggests that ID verification would have been unlikely to prevent the abuse from happening – as the accounts we suspended themselves were not anonymous,” Twitter UK wrote in a blog post. “Of the permanently suspended accounts from the Tournament, 99% of account owners were identifiable.”
According to Twitter, its own automated tools to find and remove abusive content are working: The company’s internal tech tools found and removed 1,662 harmful tweets during the UEFA Euro 2020 Final and in the 24 hours following the match. By July 14—three days after the final—that number grew to 1,961, though the total included 126 tweets that were removed due to non-automated reporting by “trusted partners,” Twitter said.
The racism directed against England’s players drew immediate attention after the team’s loss in one of the most anticipated football matches in the country’s recent history. As the match closed with a 1 – 1 tie, three of England’s players shot penalty k ..
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