Ivan Toney scored twice in Brentford's victory over Brighton on Friday; man-of-the-match display marred by racist abuse directed at striker on Instagram; Brentford and Premier League condemned abuse, with the Metropolitan Police and Meta reaching out to Toney
Sunday 16 October 2022 10:31, UK
Instagram's parent company, Meta, have told Sky Sports News they are unable to take action on the account which racially abused Ivan Toney because it has not been reported through their in-app tools.
Toney produced a man-of-the-match performance on his 100th Brentford appearance, scoring two goals, but his impressive display was marred by an abusive message received on Instagram after the game.
The 26-year-old posted a screenshot of the abuse on Twitter, writing: "I wasn't even going to post this but I woke up angry…"
Social media platform Meta has, however, removed two accounts belonging to the same person who sent the racist direct message to the Brentford striker.
Meta have said they have also reached out to Toney to offer support and arrange a briefing on their safety features.
A spokesperson said: "No one should have to experience racist abuse and sending messages like this is completely against our rules. DMs are private spaces, which means we can't take action unless someone reports the message to us in-app - but we also want to help protect people from having to see this abuse in the first place.
"That's why we've developed our Hidden Words feature which filters offensive comments and DMs, and we're working closely with football bodies to help players turn these tools on.
"No one thing will fix this overnight, but we'll continue to work to help protect our community from abuse, and to respond quickly to valid legal requests to support police investigations."
The Metropolitan Police also told Sky Sports News they have contacted Toney. A spokesperson for the force said: "Nobody should receive racist messages such as this. We have sent a message to the victim asking him to contact police."
The abuse directed at Toney, which came during in the second week of the Premier League's 'No Room for Racism' campaign, drew widespread condemnation from the footballing community, with Brentford and the Premier League issuing statements.
"Last night, Ivan Toney was subjected to disgusting, racist abuse via a direct message received on social media," a Brentford statement read.
"We condemn this discriminatory behaviour in the strongest possible terms. An attack on one of our players is an attack on all of us.
"Ivan will receive the full backing from the Club and from the Brentford fans who we have already seen condemning the abuse.
"We expect strong support from the police, legal authorities and from Instagram's parent company, Meta, to ensure that the individual involved faces the full force of the law for this despicable hate crime."
The Premier League said it would support Brentford's investigation, adding in a statement: "No one should have to face abuse of the kind received by Ivan Toney. It has no place in football or society. We are supporting Ivan and the club with investigations."
