Kenilworth's MP has called for greater legislation for social media platforms following reports of racist abuse targeted at England football players last night.

Forwards Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka all received racist abuse on social media after their penalty misses in the Euro 2020 final yesterday.

The Metropolitan Police has said it will investigate "a number of offensive and racist social media comments being directed towards footballers".

MP for Kenilworth and Southam Jeremy Wright has called on the government to implement stricter regulation on social media platforms where messages are posted.

He said: "The people writing these messages bear primary responsibility for them and consequences should follow, but the online platforms that carry the messages also have some responsibility, and consequences should follow for them too."

Mr Wright also reflected on how abuse is becoming too "familiar" to the players that receive it.

He added: "The need for, and the urgency of, legislation to apply, to the online world, the expectations a civilised society has was reinforced last night.

"We may have learned that our football team isn't quite where it wants to be yet, but we were also reminded that our society isn't either."

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Mr Wright has spoken about the issues surrounding regulation of social media previously, leading a parliamentary debate on the issue in November 2020.

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