UK Ad Leaders Call on Platforms to Stamp Out Hate Speech

Following England's loss to Italy on penalties on Sunday during the final of the UEFA Euro 2020 Championships, the three England players who missed their kicks—Marcus Rashford, Bukayo Saka and Jadon Sancho—were met with an onslaught of racist abuse on social media, leading to government condemnation and arrests. In response, the country’s advertising leaders have come together in an open letter to call on the likes of Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat to enforce stronger rules when it comes to how they police such messages. Hundreds of advertising leaders from brands and agencies have also signed their names to the open letter addressed to the leaders of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat, calling out the platforms' lack of “adequate action” in stamping out hate messages on their platforms. "The racism that we saw directed towards England's players this week, when they should have been celebrating their highest finish in a major men's tournament in over five decades, followed the trend of abuse that we have seen online over the past few years," reads the letter. " … When offensive, dehumanizing and threatening messages are sent to players, it's not just a question for the social media platforms, but for those who fund them as well." Among the hundreds of those who have added their names to it include Annette King, U.K. chief executive of Publicis Groupe; Ali Reed, U.K. CEO of PHD; Kerry Chilvers, brands director for Direct Line; Jerry Daykin, EMEA senior media director for GSK Consumer Healthcare; Meg Farren, CMO of KFC UK and Ireland; and Jeff Dodds, chief operating officer for VirginMediaO2. These Brands Are Speaking Out Against Racism on Social Media The letter explains that the lack of consequences for perpetrators of abuse is the reason that the advertising industry is now “standing in solidarity with everyone who has received discriminatory abuse online” and calling for the industry to “come together to find a solution.” Speaking to Adweek about the letter, Jake Dubbins—managing director of the Conscious Advertising Network, which has coordinated the initiative—highlighted the number of diversity initiatives and commitments run by the advertising community that would be “fatally undermined” if nothing was done to eradicate racism on the platforms where advertising spend is invested. “Many of us predicted and warned that racist emojis would be a problem at the Euros," Dubbins explained. "Many of our Black colleagues and friends are tired not only of the endless abuse online and in their actual lives going about their business, but it being compounded by the slow action in policy updates and enforcement of those policies.” Following reports of the abuse, ITV and BT released ads to show their support with the three players, and publisher LadBible (which owns SportBible) commissioned an illustration featuring the trio with the accompanying statement “Never apologize for who you are” on a large-scale digital billboard in Manchester. The image has so far been shared more than 18 million times through its social media channels. Below is the letter in full and the list of names of those who have signed it. https://www.scribd.com/document/515796625/Open-Letter-to-CEOs-of-Facebook-Instagram-Twitter-and-Snapchat

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Open Letter From UK Ad Leaders Calls on Social Media Platforms to Stamp Out Hate Speech

Brands and agencies across England come together in support of soccer players Marcus Rashford, Bukayo Saka and Jadon Sancho

Stephen Lepitak

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Stephen Lepitak