Marcus Rashford believes the positives of social media must be celebrated, as well as the negative elements being highlighted, in the fight to end the growing problem of online abuse.
Rashford was subjected to racism last month, while fellow Manchester United players Anthony Martial, Axel Tuanzebe and Lauren James have also been targeted in recent weeks.
Following United's 1-1 draw against West Brom on Sunday, a number of Instagram users left racist words and symbols in the comment section of Martial's last post.
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Instagram has announced new measures to tackle the problem, but Rashford has suggested that the negative storm surrounding social media could encourage others to act.
Rashford, 23, who has used his Twitter account to influence government policy over his free school meals campaign, said: "It's one positive of social media and it is a big positive to be able to make change and do it for the right reasons.
"Instagram and Twitter has given me the opportunity so I can voice my opinion and raise awareness, but also to understand more and connect with families in a short time.
"You are actually in a position where the fact that things have sped up because of the pandemic it keeps you up to date when you use it in the right way. And that is a big message and a big point.
"There is a lot of negative stuff on social media and people like to highlight that all the time, but when there is something positive about social media it should be highlighted more and more people would use it for that way."
Rashford, who has been named in Time magazine's Next 100 list following his campaign work on child poverty, was speaking at Wednesday's Financial Times' Business of Football summit.
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