The online racist abuse aimed at athletes is reaching a "tipping point" which could soon see them quit social media platforms, according to a leading tech reporter.
England footballers Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Sancho all suffered racist abuse after the trio missed penalties in the 3-2 shootout defeat to Italy in Sunday's Euro 2020 final.
The cases are the latest in a long line of examples where football players have been targeted on social media, with England manager Gareth Southgate describing the abuse as "unforgivable".
Speaking to Sky Sports News, the New York Times' Ryan Mac said the daily nature of online hate aimed at leading figures in sport is a "major problem" for organisations such as Facebook.
Mac added: "A lot of people go to Instagram, Facebook to interact with these athletes. Pretty soon it feels like there is going to be a tipping point where these athletes may not need this platform anymore, they may not want to be there, at a place where they are racially abused every day.
"That's the point where I think Facebook has to take a look at themselves in the mirror and try and fix this issue."
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Mac said Facebook employees want emojis that carry a racist connotation to be banned from appearing on prominent players' profiles and low-following accounts removed among a number of solutions to prevent online hate.
He has also learned how one Facebook employee has reported so much abuse that their account prevents them from reporting more.
A Facebook spokesperson said: "No one should have to experience racist abuse anywhere, and we don't want it on Instagram.
"We quickly removed comments and accounts directing abuse at England's footballers on Sunday night and we'll continue to take action against those that break our rules. In addition to our work to remove this content, we encourage all players to turn on Hidden Words, a tool which means no one has to see abuse in their comments or DMs.
"No one thing will fix this challenge overnight, but we're committed to keeping our community safe from abuse."
In February, Facebook-owned Instagram announced new measures, including the removal of accounts to prevent abusive messages on its platform and developing new controls to help reduce the abuse people see.
Mac also said there is a "co-ordinated" nature to some of the abuse that is being targeted at prominent sporting figures.
"In some of these instances it does look like there are individuals who set up multiple accounts, engage in bot activity, have a network to abuse these players," Mac added.
"In some cases, you see the same comment repeated over and over again, the same emojis or messages."
Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the Football Association have condemned the abuse at the England footballers, while the Metropolitan Police, along with the UK Football Policing Unit, are investigating.
On Monday evening, England defender Tyrone Mings took to Twitter to criticise Home Secretary Priti Patel, who last month described players taking the knee against racism as "gesture politics".
Mac said pressure from political figures was important in pressurising Facebook to further tackle abusive message on its platforms.
"It is not like they were blind to this going into the Euros," he said. "Going into the 2022 World Cup they are going to be even more aware of it."
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