English football authorities are set to reach out to US sports in a global push against racist abuse on social media. On the day the Newcastle manager, Steve Bruce, revealed he had received death threats online, and the publication of a letter from leaders across the English game calling on Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter’s Jack Dorsey to take personal responsibility for the spread of abusive content on their platform, the FA’s director for equality, diversity and inclusion, Edleen John, said it was time for an international approach in attempting to force change. “Online abuse is not a UK problem, it’s a world problem,” she said. “This is happening to NBA players, NFL players, other sports people and other celebrities. So for me there’s a global need for change, a global desire for change and so the fact that [the tech platforms] are domiciled in the US frankly should be irrelevant.” Asked if that would mean working alongside US sports, John said: “Yes. We are at the stage now where we are looking at who we should be partnering with across the football family but indeed more broadly across society. We do see that there will need to be an approach that is potentially taken more globally to get us to the point where need to get to and that’s the point [where things] change.” She was speaking after the publication of an open letter, signed by the chief executives of the Premier League, Football Association and EFL, along with the players’ and managers’ unions, the head of the women’s game, the referees’ body and Kick it Out, that set out the nature of the “debasing, often threatening and illegal” abuse received by players and the solutions they deem necessary to fix the problem. Facebook and Twitter acknowledged the letter on Thursday. The companies insist they are working to clamp down on hateful content but the frustration within the game at the slow pace of change has now boiled over. The letter made four calls for change, including asking tech companies to be more active in engaging with law enforcement agencies and adding “transparent and swift” measures for removing offensive content. But the other two demands, which would see messages blocked before they could reach other users and an “improved verification process” that would lead to easier identification of users, are likely to be vigorously resisted by the platforms. In a statement, Facebook said: “We don’t want hate and racism on our platforms and remove it when we find it. We will continue to work alongside all the industry bodies, the police and the Government to help tackle racism both on and offline.” Twitter, meanwhile, said it was “resolute in our commitment to ensure the football conversation on our service is safe for fans, players and everyone involved in the game” and cited a “95% increase in the number of accounts facing action over breaches of the platform’s abuse policy”. John added that she hoped the government’s upcoming Online Harms bill would have an impact but that tech leaders must accept their “social responsibility”. She said: “I think that legislation will help take that next step in holding social media companies to account. Right now they’re able to step away, absolve themselves of responsibility and just claim to be a vessel of people’s free speech, taking no accountability for the impact that has. So legislative step change is the first step. “But I think there’s also a piece around just being a good corporate organisation. Where is their corporate social responsibility in recognising the contribution they make to society? We all know that millions and millions of people use these platforms as a mechanism for communication. How these large organisations can step away … makes me on a personal level question how people can sleep at night.” Bruce, meanwhile, addressed the issue ahead of Newcastle side’s upcoming Premier League fixture against Chelsea on Monday, speaking of the abuse he has received during his time at the club. “These big companies have got to police it better,” he said. “The abuse I’ve had, death threats and all this sort of stuff. They need to clamp down on it and they need to police it better because there are vulnerable people out there and it’s vile some of it. “I don’t go on it but people close to me do and they are sensitive towards their father and yes [there have been death threats] … Some of the stuff I’ve had has been obscene. You feel the hatred and something has to be done.”