Tyrone Mings: Aston Villa and England defender receives racist abuse on social media

Tyrone Mings has made 29 Premier League appearances for Aston Villa this season

Aston Villa and England defender Tyrone Mings has revealed he has received racist abuse on social media.

Mings, 28, posted a screenshot on Twitter of the abuse, which includes a racial slur and which was sent to him on Instagram.

"Another day in the life of social media with no filter," said Mings.

"Please don't feel sorry for us, just stand side by side in the fight for change - social media isn't getting any safer without it."

The account that sent the message to Mings has been suspended.

Villa condemns 'abhorrent' message

Aston Villa said the club was "disgusted by the appalling racist abuse" directed at Mings.

"In the early hours of this morning, Tyrone received an abhorrent and vile private message on his social media account," said a club statement.

"We condemn all forms of racial discrimination and will continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with Tyrone, who is an inspirational figure at the forefront of the fight against racism.

"The club will continue to work closely with the Premier League, football authorities and social media platforms to tackle this disgraceful online behaviour."

The England national team tweeted their support for Mings, adding: "We are running out of way to say this - stop racially abusing people online. It is simply not acceptable."

A spokesperson for Facebook, which owns Instagram, said the abuse was "unacceptable".

"We don't want it on Instagram and we've taken action against the person who sent it," they said.

"We share the goal of tackling online abuse and holding people who share it accountable.

"We do this by taking action on content and accounts that break our rules and cooperating with law enforcement when we receive a valid legal request.

"We recently announced that we'll take tougher action when we become aware of people breaking our rules in DMs [direct messages] and we've built tools to help protect people, including the ability to never receive a DM from someone you don't follow.

"We're always working on new ways to keep our community safe and will have more to share soon."

Mings is the latest footballer to receive abuse on social media amid a recent increase in such messages being sent to players.

Liverpool players Trent Alexander-Arnold, Naby Keita and Sadio Mane were sent racist comments and emojis on Instagram after their Champions League quarter-final first-leg defeat by Real Madrid.

Championship sides Birmingham City and Swansea and Scottish champions Rangers took part in a week-long boycott of social media to combat abuse and discrimination.

Several Premier League bosses have also called for a football-wide boycott of social media.

West Midlands Police is investigating after West Brom forward Callum Robinson was subject to abuse following his side's recent 5-2 win over Chelsea.

Police are also investigating racist and sexist abuse sent to Liverpool winger Rinsola Babajide last week.