Jordan Henderson partners with Cybersmile Foundation on 'People Not Profiles' campaign; England star has been active in fight against rising levels of abuse and discrimination in football; "It is my hope that this campaign raises awareness of how seriously online abuse can affect people"
Thursday 8 April 2021 16:56, UK
Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson is to hand over control of all his social media accounts to an anti-cyberbullying charity.
The Cybersmile Foundation, a non-profit organisation and registered charity in the UK, helps to tackle online abuse and provides support for victims of cyberbullying and online hate campaigns.
England midfielder Henderson has long been a campaigner in the fight against the rising levels of abuse and discrimination within the game, discussing the issue with the government earlier this year.
Although the 30-year-old was close to coming off social media entirely, he has now decided to use his channels in a positive way instead to raise awareness of the impact of online abuse and provide direct access to education, reporting tools and support resources.
"I partnered with Cybersmile for the People Not Profiles campaign because the problem of online abuse is continuing to destroy lives every day," Henderson said.
"It has been great working with Cybersmile to address such an important issue and it is my hope that this campaign raises awareness of how seriously online abuse can affect people and also lets people know there is help and support available to them."
Dan Raisbeck, co-founder of the Cybersmile Foundation, added: "Everybody at Cybersmile is honoured to be working alongside Jordan on this important campaign, designed to serve as a reminder that behind social media profiles there are real people with real feelings.
"By effectively utilizing Jordan's powerful platform, we will be reaching millions of people with behaviour-changing insights into the effects that cyberbullying and online abuse has on people's lives, as well as offering potentially life-saving access to crucial advice and support services."
The move comes on the same day Swansea City players and staff announced they are to boycott social media for a week following a spate of "abhorrent" racial abuse on platforms.
Jamal Lowe, Yan Dhanda and Ben Cabango have all been subjected to racist abuse on social media since February.
Swansea's players join a growing list who have been subjected to online abuse in recent weeks, with Brentford's Ivan Toney also abused following Tuesday night's goalless draw with Birmingham.
Manchester United quartet Anthony Martial, Axel Tuanzebe, Marcus Rashford and Fred have also been targeted, with the latter saying "we cannot feed that culture".
Arsenal's former forward Thierry Henry has also described racism on social media as "too toxic to ignore" and disabled all of his accounts following the recent instances on the platform.
Last month, the UK's football policing lead Detective Chief Constable Mark Roberts said the response of social media companies in assisting the police to identify abusers has been "woeful".
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