Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday said that the laws banning football hooligans in England from attending matches will be extended to those who will be found responsible for racially abusing players on social media.

This sweeping change comes after three black England players – Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka – were abused online after England’s defeat in the penalties against Italy in the Euro 2020 final on Sunday.

“What we’re doing is today taking practical steps to ensure that the football banning order regime is changed, so that if you are guilty… of racist abuse online of footballers then you will not be going to the match,” news agency AFP quoted Boris Johnson.

The banning orders, created in 1989 to stop known English hooligans causing trouble at and around domestic and overseas matches, are managed by the Football Banning Orders Authority.

Responding to an urgent question on the issue in parliament, junior interior minister Victoria Atkins — whose department is responsible for the unit — conceded using the orders to tackle the trolls, who are often overseas, would be “complex”.

“But we want very much to work with football clubs and others to ensure these orders have the powers that we all want them to have,” she added.

Greater Manchester Police in northwest England said a 37-year-old man had been arrested on suspicion of an offence under the Malicious Communications Act after social media posts directed at England players.

The offence carries penalties of a maximum two-year prison sentence and/or an unlimited fine.

The government is under pressure to act on the issue, with an online petition, demanding lifelong bans from games for those guilty of racist abuse.

To tackle the racism problem, Johnson met with representatives from the leading social media companies. Johnson noted he had held the initial discussions with Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram.

“Unless they get hate and racism off their platforms, they will face fines amounting to 10% of their global revenues, and we all know they have the technology to do it,” he said, referring to the government’s planned “online harms bill.”

However, opposition politicians dubbed the move as too little, too late.