Idris Elba is proposing a new solution to help cut down on cyberbullying and racial rhetoric online for social media users.
This past Sunday (July 18), the actor took to Instagram to issue a statement calling for more strict verification measures across social media platforms. His protest was made in an effort to combat online racism and crude comments from internet trolls to better hold them accountable.
“People in the public eye get verified on social media. The process of verification requires them to prove their IDENTITY, so everyone knows WHO is speaking,” he wrote in a post. “SOCIAL MEDIA COMPANIES SHOULD MAKE THIS MANDATORY FOR ALL USERS.”
He went on to compare the current practice of allowing non-verified accounts to exist on social media platforms to the same protocol of “boarding a plane and not having to show I.D.”
“If cowards are being supported by a veil of privacy and secrecy, then social media is not a safe place,” he continued in his statement. “It is an aeroplane that allows travelers to wear balaclavas. If cowards want to spout racial rhetoric, then say it with your name, not your username.”
He then asked his followers who shared the same sentiment to repost his statement on their own social media pages.
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Elba isn’t the only celebrity who’s been vocal about having enough of being targeted by internet trolls. Many people like Leslie Jones, Kevin Hart and even Slutty Vegan founder Pinky Cole have all spoken out about being attacked online in the past.
Even Snoop Dogg’s daughter, Cori Broadus, clapped back at her haters for body shaming comments left in her Instagram DMs, according to Blavity.
“Like I don’t know what I’m suppose to do,” she wrote in an Instagram story post before telling people to embrace what they got and to keep their criticism to themselves.
Elba’s solution also isn’t the first time people have taken a stand against reckless users online. There have even been instances when social media itself mobilized to help uplift Black-owned businesses who have been victims of racist trolls.
As previously reported by AfroTech, Black Twitter came to The Honey Pot’s founder Beatrice Dixon’s rescue from negative reviews online, which ultimately led to a huge boom in her business.
