The Professional Footballers' Association has called for tougher action from Twitter, after Mansfield defender Mal Benning was allegedly racially abused on the social media platform.
Benning highlighted a tweet he received on Monday and wrote: "Not experienced much 'racism' as one of very few Asian players in the professional game.
"But there is no need for this, no matter what race you are or what team you support!"
Mansfield Police are investigating the alleged abuse.
"Last night, Malvind Benning was subjected to vile racist abuse here on Twitter," the PFA statement read.
"The PFA reported the post directly to Twitter, and the offending tweet was removed.
"While we commend the quick action, simply deleting a post is an insufficient response to tackling racist abuse. We cannot understand why Twitter allows racist accounts to continue to participate on the platform.
"We are calling on @TwitterUK to reconsider their policy and to take stronger action on accounts that post hateful rhetoric.
"In December, we called for a government inquiry into racism in football. We have been in contact with the Minister of State for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport regarding this issue.
"We will be working to ensure all forms of racist abuse - whether from the stands or social media networks - are included in this process."