LONDON - The England national team midfielder, Declan Rice, admitted that until now there were no plans for The Three Lions' players to participate in boycotting the use of various social media platforms. However, the West Ham midfielder considered that there needed to be concrete action from various parties related to racial hate speech or harassment circulating on social media.

Previously, the legend of the French and Arsenal national teams, Thierry Henry, chose not to be active on his social media accounts anymore. This step was taken by Henry as a form of protest against the rampant racial abuse and insults received by footballers, especially black players, on their respective social media accounts.

A similar step is also ready to be taken by Real Madrid winger Gareth Bale following the racial insults received by two of his Wales national team teammates. This social media boycott is a form of pressure on companies providing social media platforms to take real action to reduce or prevent racial hate speech on social media.

Meanwhile, the England national team coach, Gareth Southgate, admitted that he was no longer active on social media since he officially joined the England U-23 national team in 2013. Southgate also supports the steps taken by Henry. Even so, Rice said, until now there has been no plan from England national team players to take a similar action.

Thierry Henry has boycotted social media. I have also heard the attitude of Gareth Bale. This may be a decision that will have to be discussed with other players on the team in the future. However, until now, there has been no discussion between England national team players regarding this issue, '' said Rice as reported by Sky Sports , Wednesday (31/3).

However, the 22-year-old midfielder assesses that there is an increasing trend of racist insults and harassment that footballers have received on social media in the past year. Therefore, Rice agreed that there needs to be real action that must be taken by various parties to reduce the appearance of racist insults on social media.

'' Something was done to overcome this. In the past year, racial harassment has been excessive and continues to increase. For me, who directly manages my social media accounts, steps to reduce hate speech are not a problem. It's very important for me to be able to continue to interact with my followers , especially West Ham United and England fans, on my social media accounts, '' said Rice.

Rice is indeed known as one of the footballers who is active on social media. Rice's official twitter account is recorded to have approximately 173 thousand followers. Meanwhile, Rice's Instagram account is followed by around 450 thousand accounts.

Rice also became a meme and a joke in cyberspace after England silenced Albania, 2-0, last weekend. At that time, Rice did not get a response from Harry Kane when he participated in celebrating The Three Lions' opener in the match.