Watford's Christian Kabasele urges social media platforms to do more to combat racist abuse

Watford defender Christian Kabasele has opened up about the racist abuse he has received and urged social media platforms to do more to combat it.

Kabasele has suffered racist abuse both on the pitch and on social media in the past, with the defender subsequently becoming a vocal person in the fight against discrimination.

The Belgian most recently suffered abuse via his Instagram account and he highlighted the level of discrimination he has received to French broadcaster RMC Sport when speaking on their show show Le Vestiaire.

“It's a shame to always talk about this scourge at the moment,” said Kabasele. “Racist messages? I have received 10 or 20.

“On these accounts, there must be about the same number that were checked and nothing happened because Instagram did not find any violent comments or violations of the rules for using this social network, it is quite incredible.

“I suffered monkey chants during a match when I was playing for Genk. To denounce it, I posted a photo by putting myself under a monkey and asking the question if I looked like him.

“The next day my post was deleted by Instagram, giving me a warning because I was violating the rules of use.”

Kabasele wants social media companies to police racist abuse more closely going forward, but he also believes educating young people about the matter is crucial too.

“You have to tell the young people that these things cannot be done, it is a question of education,” he said.

“If a young person sees someone or several members of his family speaking like this, he will reproduce it. Someone has to tell him it can't be done."