Twitter Reportedly Identified 99 Percent of Accounts Behind Racist Tweets during Euro 2020 Finals

Twitter has released its analysis on the racist tweets that flooded the platform last month during the Euro 2020 finals.

Three players, Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka were on the receiving end of racist tweets after missing penalties against Italy.

Twitter says that its automation tools took over to remove racially abusive tweets, and that only 2 percent of the tweets were viewed widely.

“On the night of the Euros Final, our automated tools kicked in immediately, and ensured we identified and removed 1622 abusive Tweets in the 24 hours that followed. Only 2% of the Tweets we removed generated more than 1000 Impressions.” The company said in a tweet.

Read: Black Players Racially Abused Following England Loss In Euro Final

The social media giant says it then conducted its own analysis of the suspended and removed tweets to understand behaviour and users involved. Twitter says this will help in formulating effective steps to be taken going forward.

The Euro 2020 finals were trending internationally,  and as a result, racist tweets came in from all corners. However, Twiitter acknowledges that the UK had the highest contribution of racist tweets.

“While many have quite rightly highlighted the global nature of the conversation,, it is also important to acknowledge the UK was – by far – the largest country of origin for the abusive Tweets we removed.” Twitter said in a blog.

Read: Kenyan Legislator To Stop Watching Premier League Over Racism In UK

The company says it has put in place mechanisms to tackle any similar threats in the future, adding the there is no room for racism on the platform.

“Soon, we will be testing a new product feature that temporarily autoblocks accounts using harmful language.” the company shared.

Twitter also says that a number of users had suggested that if the suspended accounts were verified, it would help in identification of the offenders.

The company however quips that they were able to identify 99 percent of the people behind the accounts that spewed racist remarks.

Last week, British police arrested 11 people who were linked to some of the racist tweets.

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