The head of MI5 has dismissed claims that Russian bots are responsible for online racist abuse against England footballers and said that this country should shoulder the blame for the problem. Ken McCallum said that racist abuse hurled online at three players who missed penalties in the Euro 2020 final on Sunday night was not a matter for the security service as it was not targeted disinformation posted by hostile states. SponsoredHe added: “I would also voice the thought, maybe at the risk of stepping slightly out of my own swim lane, that if we were to find ourselves overly looking to blame abroad for this phenomenon of racism we might risk not owning the portion of the problem that is ours within our own

Source: The Times July 14, 2021 15:56 UTC