Former France and Arsenal soccer star Thierry Henry has quit social media after becoming frustrated with inaction from social platforms in response to online racist abuse.

A host of black Premier League players, including Manchester United trio Marcus Rashford, Mason Greenwood and Fred, have been on the receiving end of racism on Twitter this season. 

Despite the continued abuse aimed at black footballers and other sportsmen and women from ethnic minority backgrounds, social media platforms have so far failed to take action to stop it.

READ MORE:

How did Norway record zero excess deaths in 2020?

How virtual auctions are driving record art sales amid the pandemic

Stopping plane contrails 'can halve' climate impact of air travel

Henry, who is the all-time leading goalscorer for both Arsenal and France and was head coach at Montreal Impact until last month, announced his decision via social media. 

"From tomorrow morning I will be removing myself from social media until the people in power are able to regulate their platforms with the same vigor and ferocity that they currently do when you infringe copyright," he wrote.

Football and various other sports have attempted to draw attention to the problem by introducing a pre-match routine that sees players 'take the knee' before kick-off – but Henry says that isn't enough and has called on social media platforms to take firm steps to address the issue.

He added: "The sheer volume of racism, bullying and resulting mental torture to individuals is too toxic to ignore. There HAS to be some accountability. 

"It is far too easy to create an account, use it to bully and harass without any consequence and still remain anonymous. Until this changes, I will be disabling my accounts across all social platforms. I'm hoping this happens soon."

In recent weeks several teams and individual players have refused to 'take the knee' after growing disillusioned with the effectiveness and symbolism of the act. 

One of the most outspoken critics has been Crystal Palace and Ivory Coast forward Wilfried Zaha, who says the pre-match act is "degrading" for black players. 

Speaking at the FT Business of Football summit, he said: "Growing up, my parents let me know I should be proud to be black. We should stand tall.

"With taking a knee, sometimes people forget we have to do it. It is becoming something we just do. That is not enough for me."

In an interview with the On The Judy podcast he added: "Why must I even wear Black Lives Matter on the back of my top to show you that we matter? This is all degrading stuff."