Joe Willock has spoken out about the vile abuse he has received via social media outlets, speaking after his move from Arsenal to Newcastle.
The 21 year-old has completed a move to join the Toon this summer, having impressed on loan with the club earlier in 2021, and is now looking ahead to the new season.
Speaking to BBC Newcastle’s Total Sport show(via local outlet ChronicleLive) on Wednesday, the midfielder was asked whether he had experienced any abuse via social media outlets, a hot topic after the England team’s disturbing revelations this summer, and he admitted that he regularly does and that it pains him.
He said: “You have to try and put it at the back of your mind, but it comes up on your phone. They have a way of direct messaging on these disgusting things.
“It hurts a lot, even speaking about it hurts.
“To be honest with you, there’s not much you can do. You have to try and ignore it.”
It’s terrible that in this day in age we seem to have allowed racism to become a part of every day life for those in the spotlight as well as others, and the social media platforms definitely need to make some drastic changes to their policies, and make it easier for people to report abuse with repercussions for people’s actions.
Are the social media platforms dragging their feet on the subject, or is it really that difficult to implement such regulations?
Patrick