Tottenham have called for social media companies to take action after Son Heung-min was subjected to “utterly reprehensible” racist abuse online.
Tottenham posted on Twitter saying they had reported the abuse towards Son.
“We stand with Sonny and once again call on the social media companies and authorities to take action,” they said.
Tottenham added: “We have been made aware of the utterly reprehensible online racist abuse directed at Heung-Min Son during today’s match, which has been reported by the club.”
Anti-racism group Kick It Out said it was “disgusted” to hear of the racist abuse aimed at Son, just days after it demanded “meaningful reforms” after Brentford striker Ivan Toney was subjected to racial abuse on Instagram.
“Both have been targeted in the past. The longer it takes social media companies to take action, or government to pass the online safety bill, the more players will be abused,” Kick It Out said in a statement.
“Are players just expected to take the abuse while we wait for reform? Players should not be victims, they need better protection online and this is why change needs to come quickly.
“We will continue to work tirelessly with our partners across the game to ensure that those responsible for perpetrating discriminatory abuse face the strongest possible consequences for their actions.”
Toney was targeted after his controversial equaliser against Arsenal, which should have been ruled out by VAR for offside against team-mate Christian Norgaard.
The Brentford forward revealed in October last year he had been abused on Instagram after scoring both goals in a 2-0 league victory over Brighton.
Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, condemned the abuse at the time, but said it could not take take action because the message had not been reported within the app.
Police investigated and Antonio Neill, 24, of Blyth, Northumberland, admitted a charge of sending an offensive message to Toney at Newcastle Magistrates’ Court in January.
