サッカー選手への差別投稿、対策強化へ　英ジョンソン首相

【ロンドンＡＦＰ＝時事】英国のボリス・ジョンソン首相は１４日、フーリガン行為に及んだイングランドのサッカーファンをスタジアムに入場できなくする法律について、ソーシャルメディアで選手に人種差別的発言をした者も対象に加える意向を示した。（写真は資料写真）
　同国では、１１日に行われた欧州選手権決勝のイタリア対イングランド戦で、ＰＫを外したイングランドの３選手に多くの人種差別的暴言が向けられる出来事があった。
　ジョンソン首相は下院で「われわれは今、サッカー観戦者法を改正できるよう実務的な段階を踏んでいるところだ。（改正されたら）ネット上でサッカー選手に人種差別的発言をしたとして有罪になった場合、試合観戦ができなくなる」と述べた。
　サッカー観戦者法は、イングランドのフーリガンが国内外の試合でトラブルを起こすのを防止する目的で、１９８９年に制定された。ただ、問題のある投稿者は国外の者も多く、同法の適用は「複雑」になるとする議員の声もあった。
　大マンチェスター警察は、ＳＮＳでイングランド選手を攻撃したとして、「悪意のある通信法」違反の疑いで３７歳の男を逮捕したと明かしている。同法違反の場合、２年以下の禁錮刑か無制限の罰金、あるいはその両方が科されることになっている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】

〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/07/21-16:18）

Laws banning football hooligans in England from attending matches will be extended to target those responsible for racially abusing players on social media, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Wednesday.
The proposed change to football banning orders follows a deluge of abuse being directed at several black England players after the team's defeat in the Euro 2020 final against Italy on Sunday.
What we're doing is today taking practical steps to ensure that the football banning order regime is changed, so that if you are guilty... of racist abuse online of footballers then you will not be going to the match, he told MPs.
The banning orders, created in 1989 to stop known English hooligans causing trouble at and around domestic and overseas matches, are managed by the Football Banning Orders Authority.
Responding to an urgent question on the issue in parliament, junior interior minister Victoria Atkins -- whose department is responsible for the unit -- conceded using the orders to tackle the trolls, who are often overseas, would be complex.
But we want very much to work with football clubs and others to ensure these orders have the powers that we all want them to have, she added.
Greater Manchester Police in northwest England said a 37-year-old man had been arrested on suspicion of an offence under the Malicious Communications Act after social media posts directed at England players.
The offence carries penalties of a maximum two-year prison sentence and/or an unlimited fine.
- 'Face fines' -
The government is under growing pressure to act on the issue, with an online petition launched Monday demanding lifelong bans from games for those guilty of racist abuse -- online or offline -- attracting more than a million signatories.
However, Johnson and his ministers have faced withering criticism for failing to condemn promptly England fans who booed their own players taking the knee before matches early in the tournament.
Johnson met with representatives from the leading social media companies on Tuesday in what he said was part of a concerted approach to tackle the problem.
Unless they get hate and racism off their platforms, they will face fines amounting to 10 percent of their global revenues, and we all know they have the technology to do it, he said, referring to the government's planned online harms bill.
Johnson noted he had held the initial discussions with Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram.
But opposition politicians branded the moves as too little, too late while attacking Johnson's own record on race in his former life as a newspaper columnist.
Johnson made a number of heavily criticised comments, including once describing Africans as flag-waving piccaninnies with watermelon smiles.
He has also likened veiled Muslim woman to letterboxes. On Wednesday, Johnson said his past comments had been taken out of context.
The legacy of this prime minister's dog whistling has followed him into 10 Downing Street and it is now at the heart of this Tory government, said the Scottish National Party's leader in the UK parliament, Ian Blackford.
It is shameful that it took until last night for the prime minister to meet with the main social media companies.