Anti-sectarian charity offers to educate social media companies on hate and abuse connected to Scottish football

An anti-sectarian charity has offered to educate social media companies on sectarianism and anti-Irish racism in a bid to tackle the online hate and abuse connected to Scottish football.

Nil By Mouth director Dave Scott says Twitter and Facebook need employees to be "informed" and "have a better grasp" of the offensive words and terminologies people use to abuse footballers and others in society when dealing with reported abuse on their platforms.

Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, took no action against a user who sent sectarian abuse to then-Celtic defender Shane Duffy in March. Stoke City's James McClean also called out the anti-Irish abuse he receives regularly on social media.

Scott believes there is an issue with education and has openly invited the big social media companies to take part in a workshop - and even suggested staff to shadow a high-profile player to see the type of abuse they receive on a daily basis and the impact it has on them.

He told Sky Sports News: "Nil By Mouth would be only too happy to - free of charge - sit and work with, for a week or two weeks, employees of Facebook or Twitter to show them some of the terminologies.

"We can show them examples of tweets that are sent to us, on almost an hourly basis, and say, 'do you know what this means? Do you know the context of this? Do you know what this can provide people?'

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"We'd be happy to do that. And there's a number of organisations who would come together for such an event to actually help and support each other and learn from each other. What a great step forward that would be if social media companies wanted to do that.

"We did some basic analysis over the weekend and it was astonishing the amount of racist and sectarian and horrific words which were being used on social media accounts in Glasgow - we are talking tens of thousands.

"We need social media companies to understand how they help solve this problem. Ultimately they can't be held responsible for what people post. What they are responsible for is the platform where that comes from.

"If someone is sending a message through Instagram, which was the case with Shane Duffy, or through Twitter - be it on a public forum or through direct messages - we've got to make sure these organisations act by suspending the accounts and work with police to give the co-ordinates of where this person is because they've broken our rules and broken law. But we also need them to understand the words and terminologies that are used.

"We've seen football trying to make change. We've seen football say, 'look we're switching off the lights on social media for three/four days to challenge racism in different forms'. Now we've got to see real change.

"We need people to be informed, they need people to buy into it and they need to work with people who work in that field day in day out to have a better grasp of the words, the language, and the harm caused.

"If they don't want to speak to me, speak to people who have been affected. Come and speak to people like Neil Lennon or Shane Duffy. Ask them about their experience and how it has impacted them.

"Maybe ask somebody high profile to have a day shadowing your Twitter account and show them the selection of tweets, because it's depressingly easy to find."

Sky Sports News has contacted the SFA, SPFL, Facebook and Twitter for comment.

After the weekend's disorder in Glasgow as Rangers fans celebrated their Scottish Premiership title win, many politicians and key figures in Scotland, including First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, hit out at the "vile anti-Catholic prejudice" on display.

Scott believes there has been an awakening to this centuries-old problem, linked to the prominence of the Black Lives Matter movement over the last year.

He said: "I think something has changed in society. I think the Black Lives Matter campaign and the movement has awoken a lot of things and a lot of uncomfortable debates.

"In Scotland, there's sectarianism and issues between Catholics and Protestants, and through history, this has been fused between issues of being Irish and British and different elements there.

"There can be no getting away from the fact that hostility towards Irish people and Catholics is certainly the biggest piece of that jigsaw - there's no question about that. The statistics prove that, the evidence proves that.

"It's not the only piece of the jigsaw, so you have to reach for the other ones if you want to solve the puzzle. But people are very motivated at the moment about taking these things on.

"I think the politicians are saying they are exacerbated about it. Football needs to do something about this - football needs to act. Not just statements, we need to do something about it in society. But the problem is when it comes to this, sometimes people are very quick to point the finger and less quick to look in the mirror. Until we take responsibility for our own issues and our own problems, then this stuff risks happening again.

"This is the second time in a number of weeks where we've had something set up with a so-called party atmosphere that has descended into sectarian and racial hatred in Glasgow city centre - and that just cannot be allowed to continue."

With fans likely to return at some point next season in Scotland, sectarianism and anti-Irish racism could rear its ugly head at football stadiums again.

Nil By Mouth is campaigning for Scottish football to implement the UEFA 3 step protocol, which would allow players to walk off the pitch if unlawful chanting continued.

Scott believes this would help to tackle the issue in football and accused the SFA and SPFL of trying to "hide from it".

He said: "We've campaigned for UEFA's 3 step protocol to be implemented in Scotland. If there's racial abuse on the pitch, the referee stops and an announcement is made on the tannoy. If it happens a second time, he walks the players off the pitch and brings them back again. If it happens a third time, he blows the final whistle and walks into the changing rooms and everyone has to disperse from the stadium. And there's repercussions for people outwith.

"In Scottish football, we have our own three-stage protocol - hear nothing, see nothing, do nothing.

"There's not been a point or a pound fined for any club for sectarianism, for anti-Irish abuse, or anti-Protestant abuse - it's never happened. They're terrified of it. They don't want to deal with it. They want to hide from it. So what happens is they've created a permissive environment where these things can happen inside the stadium and outside the stadium."

Twitter has told Sky Sports News it would "welcome the opportunity to engage and hear ideas from partners" on sectarianism and anti-Irish racism in Scotland.

A Twitter spokesperson added: "Keeping people safe on Twitter is a priority for us. We have clear policies in place - that apply to everyone, everywhere - that address abuse and harassment, violent threats, and hateful conduct and we take enforcement action when we identify violations of our rules."