At AFC Wimbledon we believe social media is an important tool for connecting with our fans and communities all over the world.
As a fan-owned club, we encourage interaction with our social media channels, which act as a platform for us to inform you about important news - and share stories that make you feel a part of our fantastic club.
However, social media channels can also be targeted as a platform – often through anonymous accounts – to use abusive or inappropriate behaviour towards individuals or groups of people.
Both the Club and the Dons Trust have adopted a zero-tolerance approach to such behaviour.
In recent months, we’ve set up a social media working group to put together guidelines for fans and third parties. You can now access this document by visiting this page.
With social media constantly changing, we will continue to review the content of these guidelines, and make amendments and updates as appropriate.
We urge fans to read through and adhere to these guidelines. A Social Media Policy has also been implemented for club staff, which is available internally.
Guidance for fans
AFC Wimbledon is committed to promoting equality, diversity and inclusion into everything we do. We are also committed to fighting racism, and all forms of discrimination.
We would therefore ask our fans to reflect our values and beliefs when engaging online with the Club.
We will use our channels and platforms to encourage tolerance, respect and fairness, and we ask our fans to join us in saying no to hate, abuse and discrimination in any form.
For more information on the Club’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion work, please see:
- Our Equality Policy
- Rainbow Laces campaign
- Dons 4 Diversity
- Muslim Athlete Charter
- Black History Month
What we will do
We believe social media companies must do more to tackle hateful, abusive and discriminatory behaviour on their platforms. Nonetheless, as a club, we are committed to taking action and playing our part.
AFC Wimbledon and the Dons Trust will work to ensure that inappropriate behaviour is met with necessary action in whatever context it occurs.
In the first instance, and where possible, the behaviour will be addressed directly with the individual. He or she will be asked - and agree to - inappropriate comments being removed.
In the second instance, and where possible, if the individual is unable to be identified - or does not agree to the inappropriate comments being removed - a moderator will assess the situation and, if necessary, remove the offensive content.
Finally, if the offensive behaviour continues, the culprit may be blocked from following our social media accounts, potentially barred from the club and even reported to the appropriate authorities.
Please note that if we conclude that an offensive post is serious enough, we will immediately block the user from access to our social media accounts.
You can play your part to help stamp out abuse on social media. Should you receive or witness hateful, discriminatory and/or abusive comments or content online, we strongly advise you to report this to the relevant social media platform.
Each platform has its own reporting mechanism, and we have listed these below for ease of use:
- Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/help/181495968648557/
- Twitter - https://help.twitter.com/en/safety-and-security#sensitive-content
- Instagram - https://help.instagram.com/contact/383679321740945
- YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/intl/en-GB/about/policies/#reporting-and-enforcement
You can report incidents to the Club
If you witness discriminatory online abuse related to AFC Wimbledon, staff, players or supporters, we ask you to report these to the Club. E-mail info@afcwimbledon.ltd.uk with the subject title 'social media'.
When contacting us, please share details of the content and screenshots of any offensive social media posts where possible. The Club will acknowledge receipt of your complaint and respond directly if we require further information in order to investigate.