Manchester City and England forward Raheem Sterling has received racist abuse on social media.
It comes two days after English football’s four-day boycott of social media, in response to ongoing online abuse, came to an end.
A spokesperson for Facebook, which owns Instagram, said it had removed the comment and “taken action” against the account responsible.
Facebook added the abuse sent to the 26-year-old was “unacceptable”.
“As part of our ongoing work in this space, we’ll soon be rolling out new tools to help prevent people seeing abusive messages from strangers,” it said.
“No single thing will fix this challenge overnight but we’re committed to doing what we can to keep our community safe from abuse.”
Is football’s racism battle being lost on social media?
Two Manchester City supporters were banned from football matches for five years in January 2020 for racially abusing Sterling.
Chelsea also banned a fan for life for using “racially abusive language” towards Sterling during a match at Stamford Bridge in December 2018.
Two years ago, several footballers took part in the #Enough campaign – a 24-hour social media boycott in protest at online abuse – however players across all sports continue to be subjected to abuse.
Rugby union, cricket and rugby league were among the other sports to join football in last weekend’s boycott.
Facebook also removed Instagram accounts that sent racist abuse to Stoke City’s Wales winger Rabbi Matondo on Wednesday – the second time in 2021 that Matondo has received such abuse.
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