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Jermaine Jenas calls for laws to make social media firms tackle racism

Jermaine Jenas, the former England footballer turned TV presenter, has urged the government to sanction social media companies that fail to stamp out racism and abuse on their platforms.

For months Jenas has been monitoring the rise in online abuse against Black footballers and assessing whether social media companies have kept promises to do more in the wake of abuse faced by Marcus Rashford, Bukayo Saka and Jadon Sancho after the Euro 2020 final this summer.

In a Channel 4 documentary, Hunting the Football Trolls, Jenas says there has been no improvement in policing and banning racists, and accuses social media companies of being the biggest trolls of all.

“What have social media companies done?” Jenas, who played for Premier League sides including Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur, told the Guardian. “They haven’t done anything. The government need to get control over the issue. These companies are operating the way they want to. But if laws are in place they’ll have to work within those laws.”

Channel 4 commissioned the data company Signify to analyse more than 6 million posts across the 2020-21 season including Euro 2020. It found a 48% increase in unmoderated racist abuse in the second half of the season, peaking in May 2021, with 50% of abusive tweets coming from UK accounts.

It also found that Raheem Sterling was subjected to more than twice as much abuse as Harry Kane during the Euros, with 54% of this being racist. Guardian analysis reported similar findings during Euro 2020 – 2,000 abusive tweets were directed at and named the England team including the N-word and monkey emojis.

Jenas said he found a severe disconnect between what the police and social media companies deemed abusive. “The police are working their socks off to get as much information as they can. The UK Football Policing Unit, a specialist department, are actively tracking the things that are online. But generally the police are quite powerless, which I found scary.”

The film explains that police can ask social media companies for information about who set up an abusive account, which IP address posts came from and what devices were used. But a site such as Twitter can sometimes take up to six months to respond, and may determine that the post was not abusive.

In the UK, the online harms bill outlines a duty of care on social media companies to protect users from harmful content. The bill proposes fines of up to 10% of a company’s annual turnover, which would amount to about £6bn for a firm the size of Facebook.

“Nobody knows what happens behind closed doors,” Jenas said. “All footballers look like they’re rich and living great lives but players are receiving an obscene amount of racism and online abuse.

“Social media companies have had more than enough time to adapt and adjust, but all they have done is ask us to change. They’ll send us a new update: turn off these settings, turn off those settings, turn off your comments. But why am I having to do all this when they should be policing it? If people shout abuse at you on the street they’d be arrested, so why are they allowed to do it on these platforms?”

A Facebook company spokesperson said: “No one should have to experience racist abuse anywhere, and we don’t tolerate it on Facebook and Instagram. We remove racist content as soon as we see it and respond to valid legal requests to help with police investigations.

“We’ve also built the Hidden Words tool to prevent people from seeing this abuse in their comments and in DMs … People can also limit comments and DM requests during spikes of increased attention. No one thing will fix this challenge overnight, but we’re committed to continuing our work with the Premier League and others to help keep our community safe from abuse.”

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Eko bridge repairs: LASG announces 18 weeks traffic diversion

The Lagos State Government has announced that traffic will be diverted away from the Eko Bridge to facilitate emergency repairs by the Federal Ministry of Works.

The Commissioner for Transportation, Mr Oluwaseun Osiyemi, made this known in a statement on Friday, noting that “the traffic diversion will commence on Sept. 16 and will last for 18 weeks.

“The repairs will be carried out in four phases, during which the bridge will be intermittently, fully or partially closed, depending on the work schedule.

“Motorists are advised to use alternative routes during the repairs, but motorists heading to the Island from Funsho Williams Avenue can make use of the service lane at Alaka to connect Costain and access Eko Bridge to continue their journeys.

“Alternatively, motorists heading to the Island can access Costain to connect Eko Bridge to link Apongbon for their destinations.

“Motorists can also connect Apongbon inwards Eko Bridge to link Costain to access Funsho Williams Avenue.”

He added that motorists could also make use of Costain inwards Alaka/Funsho Williams Avenue or alternately go through Apapa Road from Costain and link Oyingbo to access Adekunle to link Third Mainland Bridge for their desired destinations.

“Motorists heading to Surulere are advised to use Costain to link Breweries inwards Abebe Village to connect Eric Moore/Bode Thomas to get to their destinations,” he stated.

Osiyemi assured that the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority officers would be deployed to the rehabilitation areas and alternative routes to minimise travel delays and inconveniences.

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Rivers: Police detain 5 over CDC chairman’s death

The Police Command in Rivers has apprehended five suspects over the alleged killing of Chief Ndidi Livingstone, a former Community Development Committee (CDC) Chairman, Mgbuoshimini, Rumueme, Obio/Akpor Local Government Area.

The Commissioner of Police, Mr Disu Olatunji, told newsmen in Port Harcourt that after the killing, the command launched a nationwide manhunt to apprehend the perpetrators.

It would be recalled that Livingstone was murdered in front of his wife and son during a church service in his community on Jan. 13.

Olatunji said that the FID-Intelligence Response Team and personnel of the command later identified nine suspects, including the mastermind of the killing.

He said that five of the suspects died from gunshot wounds sustained after attempting to resist arrest.

“Peter Chukwu, who masterminded that operation, was tracked down in his hideout in Ibusa, Delta, on April 5. His attempt to resist arrest led to his death,” he said.

The commissioner listed other suspects linked to include, Adebayo Adebayo, 48; Success Oge, 39, Nnamdi Emmanuel, 35, John Lucas, 34, and Sunday Godspower, 33.

Others are, Ifeanyi Nwadike, 30, Chigemezu Anochirimoyeanya, 29, Chimezie Adiele, 29, and Ogolo Promise, 25.

He further said that four of the suspects, Adebayor, Emmanuel, Lucas and Promise, led the police to the gang’s hideout in Aluu Village, where their cache of weapons were recovered.

“While approaching the camp, our personnel came under heavy gunfire from hoodlums suspected to be members of the gang.

“The four suspects attempted to escape during the ambush but were caught in the crossfire, they died in the process.

“There bodies have been deposited at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital morgue for autopsy,” he clarified.

Olatunji said that two AK-47 refiles, two SMG rifles, an assault rifle, a shotgun rifle, a pistol, 10 magazines, and 150 rounds of live ammunition were recovered from the gang.

He said that efforts were ongoing to apprehend other suspects that were linked to the criminal syndicate.

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Police arrest 9 suspects over communal crisis in Kogi

The Police Command in Kogi State has arrested nine suspects in connection with a communal crisis in Itamah area of Kogi.

The crisis occurred after the assassination of the community traditional ruler, Onu Itamah Job Shagari.

The Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr Bethrand Onuoha, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lokoja on Thursday.

The late Chief Job Shagari was on Aug. 12 assassinated by some gunmen who invaded the community.

The traditional ruler’s death had created rift between two families — the Okenyi Abu-Atika and Shagari-Ebijegor, resulting in communal crisis.

But the police said they had arrested nine suspects and they were trailing other suspects.

“What the police are calling for now is for peace to be allowed to reign in Itamah community.

“The destruction done in that community is very unfortunate and uncalled for.

“We want a situation where the aggrieved families should come to round table for dialogue toward finding a lasting solution.

A situation where the community members are involved in an eye for an eye, the whole community will be blind and there won’t be peace there at all,” he said.

Onuoha denied the allegation that the command did not respond to petitions brought before it on arson and hostilities that left some houses and other property razed destroyed.

Mr Akoh Jonah, spokesman of the Okenyi Abu-Atika, claimed that more than 40 houses were burnt during the crisis, alleging that the police arrested 11 members of his family