Rio Ferdinand has called for a new social media platform to be set up as he criticised tech giants for failing to get a grip on bullying and “toxic behaviours”. The former England footballer, who suffered racial abuse as a child, said he wanted to stop his daughters going through the same experience.
He also backed the Government’s Online Safety Bill, which will allow Ofcom to fine companies up to 10% of their turnover if they fail to protect children online.
Ferdinand said: “Passing the online Bill will be a good start, making the social media platforms accountable for a lot of the online hate. Social media companies haven’t reacted in the positive way we anticipated they would, given some of the big news stories that have happened around social media and toxic behaviours.
