Lucy Bronze has warned social media companies football players can “thrive” without their services after her England team-mate Jess Carter was the target of vile racist online abuse at Euro 2025.
Carter said she will be “taking a step back from social media and leaving it to a team to deal with”, while team-mate Lotte Wubben-Moy said she “will not continue to feed the very platforms that enable this abuse with no consequence” for the remainder of the tournament.
And while Bronze was adamant players could quite easily cut ties with the platforms, she was nevertheless “sad” for Carter, who she conceded might also be “missing out” on a chance to celebrate with supporters as the defending champions prepare for Tuesday’s semi-final with Italy in Geneva.
“I think no player needs social media,” said Bronze. “I think that’s one thing that we can always remember, is that we play football because we love the sport.
“We love playing, we do love connecting with our fans. Social media is a great way to do that, but we don’t need it.
“I think that’s something that the platforms should be very aware of, is that no one needs social media. If you want to carry on in sport, especially, we can thrive without it, but it is sad that players are missing out on so many of these great messages.
“Someone like Jess, she’s had an amazing tournament. I think she was one of our best players in the Netherlands game, for example, and she should be able to see messages and the fans and the support and live in that moment, because it’s something you should be able to celebrate.
“So it’s sad that players are having to choose between this roller-coaster that social media sends us on.”
In a statement, Football Association chief Mark Bullingham confirmed his organisation has already referred the “abhorrent” abuse to UK police, who are “in touch with the relevant social media platform”, and said the FA “will continue to discuss with the relevant authorities and social media companies about what more can and should be done.”
The Lionesses have collectively agreed they will not be “taking the knee” ahead of kick-off in Geneva, a symbolic anti-racism gesture that since 2016, when NFL player Colin Kaepernick kneeled during the Star Spangled Banner in protest, has become widespread practice across sport.
“Until now, we have chosen to take the knee before matches,” read a team statement.
“It’s clear we and football need to find another way to tackle racism. We have agreed as a squad to remain standing before kick-off on Tuesday.”
Bronze agreed that there “has been change” since Kaepernick’s protest but added: “I think the problem is that as the game grows and everything grows, in football and in life, as much as there might be change, there are more outlets for abuse and racism as well.
“It’s just not enough. I think that’s the point. Not enough is being done. There are small changes being made, there’s always small steps forward, but that’s the problem. It’s always a small step.
“And we don’t want it to be small steps anymore. We want it to be ‘this is happening, there’s change, it’s unacceptable’, and there’s no more small steps, because we get to the point of where it should be in the world, and especially in the world of footballers.
“It feels like there can be a place where we can control abuse online, especially racism online. Everything is monitored online, so it just doesn’t make sense to us.”
