Ex-England striker Gary Lineker, Countdown presenter Rachel Riley and London mayor Sidiq Khan are among a group of celebrities, politicians and campaigners who have pledged not to publicise the abuse they receive on social media from trolls.
They have been convinced by new research that suggests hate speech is being inadvertently spread through social media when insults, put-downs or worse are quoted or shared.
They will instead report the worst cases of abuse to police, while sending lesser examples to social media companies such as Twitter and Facebook to put pressure on them to act.
By refusing to respond, they believe it will starve trolls of a wider audience.
The move targets those using social media to spread racist, sexist, xenophobic and other hateful messaging through retweets and public shaming.
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Match Of The Day presenter Gary Lineker, with 7.4 million Twitter followers, says he is determined to "show online trolls the red card" after seeing the racist abuse directed at young black footballers.
Chelsea striker Tammy Abraham, 21, said his mother was in tears after reading a torrent of racist comments targeted at him after he missed a decisive penalty in the European Super Cup against Liverpool last month.
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Fellow England and Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford suffered a similar backlash after missing a spot kick against Crystal Palace in a league match this season.
Lineker said: "We've all been shocked by the way in which racist trolls have been targeting footballers recently.
"It is frankly horrifying that they have done so in a calculated way to spread their abhorrent views. Let's not allow the beautiful game to be tarnished in this way.
"Everyone across the sporting world will be grateful for this guide on how we can show online trolls the red card. Don't rise to the bait, block the trolls and take some time out."
Jewish TV personality Riley, a former Strictly Come Dancing contestant, has been on the receiving of antisemitic abuse.
She said the experience had "totally changed the way I interact on Twitter".
"I now block trolls as common practice and have changed my settings to avoid seeing much of their output, which has made life much better from a mentaRead More – Source
