Unfortunately, for many of those now in the public eye, social media abuse is part of their daily lives.
With the platforms themselves seemingly unwilling or unable to stem the flow of such disgusting views, those on the receiving end are forced to endure the most horrific type of personal attack.
Over the last few weeks those within football have begun to detail threats to their families and death threats to themselves, with referee, Mike Dean, even making a request not to be considered for duty last weekend.
It’s a very sorry state of affairs when things have been allowed to go so far, but without the right deterrents in place, the abuse will continue.
“After the stuff with Mike Dean we were having a conversation about it around the kitchen table. I told my dad, ‘the levels of abuse you get online through myself or my sister, some of the stuff that’s said about you is disgusting,'” Alex Bruce told talkSPORT‘s Jim White, when talking about the sort of thing his father, Steve, manager of Newcastle United, has had to put up with of late.
“He gets plenty of it, there is lots of abuse directed towards my dad, and it is disgusting.
“I’m not one of those who comes out and preaches about stuff or moans about stuff, as a family we just get on with it, but it’s happened for so many years now, when he’s in the public eye and he is the manager he is, that it becomes normal.
“I know if his team get beat on a Saturday he’s going to get abused and stick online and social media. It’s the norm, and it’s wrong.
“Jim, honestly, some of the stuff is brutal, I have to be honest. Absolutely brutal.
“As bad as I’ve seen recently is: ‘Your dad’s a ****, I hope he dies of COVID’. That’s probably as bad as it gets. But he gets abuse to that level on a regular basis.”
It’s a damning indictment on society more generally and social media companies particularly, that these views are allowed to be aired in the public domain.
It’s time the talking about what can be done about it is stopped, and the proper action taken.
‘Your dad’s a ****, I hope he dies of COVID’. (quote) I agree its obnoxious,nasty and infantile, but its not a death threat , is it ?
Have you reported these “death threats” to the police ? I suspect they would take the same view as me.
Between you and your old man, you have tarred every NUFC fan with the same brush. The pair of you show nothing but contempt for the supporters. I believe the supporters of Sunderland, Sheffield, Birmingham, Villa, etc would agree.While at the same time you both make a very good living out of us.