Patrick Van Aanholt points finger at social media following racist abuse

| 14 August 2020

The Dutch defender has called on networks like Twitter to take responsibility for abuse sent on their platforms.

Crystal Palace defender Patrick Van Aanholt has added his voice to calls for social media networks to become accountable for racist abuse after he shared a vile tweet of him being targeted.

Van Aanholt shared a picture of a direct message from another Twitter user calling him a "black m***********".

He captioned it with the message: "This is not about me... I've got enough love and I'm blessed in my life to not let stuff like this upset me BUT it really ain't on and I stand for those that can't defend themselves and have to deal with this s*** daily.

https://twitter.com/wilfriedzaha/status/1282607737013260290/photo/1

"SOCIAL MEDIA you are accountable for this!!"

The Dutchman is not the first Palace player to be targeted after Wilfred Zaha was also on the receiving end.

The Ivory Coast international was sent racist messages and imagery on social media last month, which resulted in a 12-year-old boy being arrested in connection with the incident.

West Midlands Police have since released the individual under investigation, but Zaha, after bringing it to the attention of a wider audience, called on sites like Twitter and Instagram to do more to prevent people from suffering racist abuse.