Rotherham United will join our colleagues from across the football pyramid in a social media boycott which will begin at 3pm today (Friday 30th April) and will run through the Bank Holiday weekend until 11:59pm on Monday 3rd May 2021.
During this time, there will be NO content posted to any of our social media channels, including the live match updates that would usually appear on our Twitter feed for Saturday's game against Blackburn Rovers.
Instead, all of the latest news will be posted to our club official website, on which, we will also run a live matchday blog in place of the usual matchday social media feeds which can be found via this link.
We feel that by partaking in this 'blackout' clubs are making the first steps to ending all forms of abuse and discrimination online.
๐๐ง๐จ๐ฎ๐ ๐ก ๐ข๐ฌ ๐๐ง๐จ๐ฎ๐ ๐ก.
— Rotherham United (@OfficialRUFC) April 30, 2021
๐๐ญ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฆ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐๐ซ๐ฌ ๐จ๐ง ๐ฌ๐จ๐๐ข๐๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐๐๐ข๐ ๐ฐ๐๐ซ๐ ๐ก๐๐ฅ๐ ๐๐๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ญ๐๐๐ฅ๐ ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ข๐ซ ๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ ๐จ๐ง๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐.#SocialMediaBoycott#rufc | #ForeverTogetherForeverProud pic.twitter.com/GmZY6gDYGF
We hope that our actions make the powers-that-be at various social media companies stand up and take note of the fact that people need to be made accountable for what is said on their platforms, so that we can put an end to the 'anonymous' abuse culture which has reared its ugly head in recent years.
At 3pm today, our coaching staff, players, club staff, Academy and Community Sports Trust will STOP posting content on social media as a show of our support to an initiative that we feel is necessary to provoke a change in the way social media is regulated.
For too long people have been able to say what they like, to who they like online, whilst hiding behind a username.
As a club, our inclusivity and community-feel means an incredible amount to us and we deal with any form of abuse - whether it be to a player, a supporter, a member of staff or anyone - very seriously.
We regularly monitor the comments made on social media by supporters commenting on our posts and always take appropriate action where we are able to identify the individual, but it is now time for the social media companies to make this process much more easy to regulate by making everyone accountable for their actions - both online or in-person.
Enough is enough.