Radio station talkSPORT is to ban all mentions of social media site Twitter after presenter and former footballer Stan Collymore was subjected to a torrent of abusive and racist messages.
Collymore received the messages after suggesting Liverpool striker Luis Suarez dived to earn a penalty in last Saturday’s match against Aston Villa.
He has since complained about Twitter failure to clamp down on abusive behaviour and says he wants the platform to do more to tackle the issue of trolls.
A number of the tweets are now subject to police investigation.
talkSPORT Chief Executive Scott Taunton has today written to Twitter to express the station’s dissatisfaction with the social media giant’s apparent lack of support for Collymore who is a presenter on the channel.
Taunton says the station is to stop promoting Twitter and its Twitter accounts until the station feels that Twitter is responding appropriately.
As a result, no Twitter mentions will appear on air on talkSPORT, in print in SPORT Magazine or on talkSPORT’s digital platforms.
Taunton said: “We are dismayed at the lack of response and perceived inaction by Twitter. Racist or abusive messages of this nature are illegal and unacceptable.
“We have more than three million Twitter followers across our accounts but we will not promote these until we are satisfied that Twitter is doing its utmost to prevent abuse of this nature. We have a duty of care to all our staff and presenters and until I am satisfied that Twitter is treating this seriously we will no longer promote Twitter accounts or use tweets on-air.
“It seems inconceivable that a hi-tech company with a market capitalisation of $30bn appears incapable of preventing racist and abusive tweets being broadcast across its platform.”
