English footballer Bukayo Saka called out social media giants like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram for not taking stringent steps to stamp out racial abuse. This comes after Saka and two of his co-players were racially abused and picked on online after they missed penalties in the Euro 2020 final.

Saka took to his Twitter to ask social media platforms to take responsibility for the racist speech propagated on their systems. 

“To the social media platforms Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, I don’t want any child or adult to have to receive the hateful and hurtful messages that me, Marcus and Jadon have received this week,” Saka tweeted on Thursday.

This happened when English forwards Jadon Sancho, Marcus Rashford, and Bukayo Saka failed to convert their penalties  against Italy during the Euro 2020 final at Wembley on Sunday. Sancho and Saka had their penalties saved by keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, while Rashford hit the post. 

After the miss, the arsenal star became the target of brutal online trolls that even included racial slurs. Some hate posts even said that people of colour do not represent the England at all.

Also Read: Euro 2020: Marcus Rashford mural vandalised following England defeat

Taking a dig at the modern trolling and intolerant culture on social media, Saka wrote, “I knew instantly the kind of hate that I was about to receive, and that is a sad reality that your powerful platforms are not doing enough to stop these messages.”

“There is no place for racism or hate of any kind in football or in any area of society and to the majority of people coming together to call out the people sending these messages, by taking action and reporting these comments to the police and by driving out the hate by being kind to one another, we will win.

“Love always wins.”

Also Read: Anyone guilty of racist abuse will be banned from football stadiums: UK PM

So far, the only action taken by the social media platforms Facebook and Twitter was the removal of hate comments and racial posts against the players.

Since the incident, several world leaders ad sports personalities including UK Prime Minister condemned the attack.

“This England team deserves to be lauded as heroes, not racially abused on social media. Those responsible for this appalling abuse should be ashamed of themselves,” Johnson wrote on Twitter.

Saka has been one of England’s breakout stars as the Three Lions reached the first major tournament final for 55 years.