Manchester City ahead Raheem Sterling has been racially abused on Instagram lower than 48 hours after the Premier League’s social media boycott ended.
Sterling suffered the abuse following City’s Champions League semi-final second leg victory towards Paris St Germain on Tuesday.
A spokesperson for Facebook, which owns Instagram, mentioned: “The racist abuse despatched to Raheem Sterling is unacceptable and we are not looking for it on Instagram.
“We have eliminated the remark and brought motion towards the account that posted it.
“As a part of our ongoing work on this area, we’ll quickly be rolling out new instruments to assist forestall folks seeing abusive messages from strangers.
“No single factor will repair this problem in a single day however we’re dedicated to doing what we are able to to maintain our group secure from abuse.”
Premier League clubs and players stayed off social media over the weekend in protest at the barrage of abuse suffered by top-flight stars in recent years.
Sterling has been the target of abuse on social media on several occasions in the past.
A study commissioned by the Professional Footballers’ Association published last October looked at social media posts directed towards 44 players during the ‘Project Restart’ period of last season.
It found more than 3,000 explicitly abusive messages were directed at those players publicly via Twitter, with 50 per cent of those messages aimed at just three players — Sterling, Crystal Palace’s Wilfried Zaha and Wycombe’s Adebayo Akinfenwa.
Sterling said at the time: “I don’t know how many times I need to say this, but football and the social media platforms need to step up, show real leadership and take proper action in tackling online abuse.
“The technology is there to make a difference, but I’m increasingly questioning if there is the will.”
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