Written by Staff Writer, CNN London
Romelu Lukaku, a forward for English Premier League club Everton, has called for more girls to play football in order to encourage social media giants to “clean up their act.”
The Belgian striker, 23, told “Piers Morgan’s Life Stories” that footballers need to “be fair” and demand more from Facebook, Google and Twitter when they stream live matches.
“It’s really hard for me to watch games these days,” Lukaku told CNN Sport. “We need a balance, we need to be fair but…when we come up against social media companies, like Facebook and Twitter, we have to be fair as well, because they create things.
“They should be really careful, not just with football, because they are always putting bad things, not just football, everywhere.”
“We need to speak as footballers, but also speak to these social media companies and say ‘Clean up your act, please,'” he said.
Lukaku joins an impressive roster of football stars who have criticised social media in the past.
German footballer Klaas-Jan Huntelaar called out Twitter earlier this year for allowing racist abuse to continue to flow online, while in April, Manchester United defender Luke Shaw said Twitter should ban users who repeatedly posted racist and sexist abuse.
Having completed his move to Everton in 2015, Lukaku made 44 appearances in England’s top flight in the 2016-17 season, scoring 22 goals in the process.
He has represented Belgium at three World Cups, scoring twice.