Manchester United and Chelsea ban fans for sending abuse on social media

Son Heung-min scored the opening goal of the game in his side's 3-1 defeat by Manchester United

Manchester United have banned six fans for sending racist abuse to Tottenham forward Son Heung-min while Chelsea have banned a fan for 10 years for posting anti-Semitic messages online.

Son was sent "abhorrent" abuse after United's 3-1 win on 11 April.

United said three season ticket holders, two official members and one person on the season ticket waiting list have been given suspensions.

Chelsea banned fan Sam Mole after the conclusion of court proceedings.

A judge ruled earlier this year that Mole, 20, from Kettering could not be charged for a racially or religiously aggravated offence because of a technicality, after he directed anti-Semitic abuse towards a Jewish journalist via social media.

Mole was out of the country when he sent the tweets in 2019 and therefore outside the jurisdiction of the UK's courts.

But he was issued with a three-year restraining order earlier this year preventing him from contacting freelance Chelsea reporter Dan Levene again.

In a statement, the club said: "Everybody at Chelsea is proud to be part of a diverse club. Our players, staff, fans and visitors to the club come from a wide range of backgrounds, including the Jewish community, and we want to ensure everyone feels safe, valued and included.

"In sport, as in wider society, we must create a social media environment where hateful and discriminatory actions are as unacceptable online as they would be on the street.

"As a club, we will continue to take action against individuals or groups who produce or disseminate social media posts that contravene these values."

Levene said: "I'm delighted with this outcome. It sends a very strong message that abusive and anti-Semitic behaviour online is unacceptable.

"I hope this case leads to better processes at Chelsea and other clubs so that it doesn't take so long to come to the right decision in future, but this is a good day for the fight against racism in football."

It comes as football and other sports prepare to stage a social media boycott this weekend in response to the rise of hate-filled social media posts aimed at players and officials.

The campaign is calling for the UK Government and social media companies to do more to tackle online hate.

On Friday, United revealed its own analysis had found a 350% increase in abuse directed towards the club's players, with 3,300 posts targeting players during the period of September 2019 to February 2021.

It found 86% of those posts were racist, while 8% were homophobic or transphobic.

Richard Arnold, United's group managing director, said: "We have been actively campaigning against discrimination for some time through our All Red All Equal initiative.

"The level of support we have received for this work from our fans has been hugely encouraging but these figures show that despite that, the level of abuse our players and fans receive is on the up.

"It must be said that while these numbers are shocking, they do only represent a 0.01% of conversations that take place on social media about the club and the players.

"By taking part in this boycott this weekend, we, alongside the rest of English football, want to shine a light on the issue."