SOCIAL media companies have become “havens for abuse” and must introduce measures to prevent offenders operating anonymously on their platforms, football’s leaders have said.

An open letter from all the game’s major governing bodies to Twitter and Facebook’s chief executives Jack Dorsey and Mark Zuckerberg says those platforms, along with Instagram which is owned by Facebook, must do more to stamp out abuse.

A host of players across the men’s and women’s professional game have been targeted in recent weeks, including Saints youngster Alex Jankewitz.

The 19-year-old was sent off inside 90 seconds of his first start last week, with Saints going on to fall to a record-equalling 9-0 Premier League defeat to Manchester United.

Jankewitz was subjected to sickening abuse online, with monkey emojis and racist terms directed at him on social media.

And the men at the top of the technology giants have been urged to put in place systems which enable the police to accurately identify account users when necessary.

The letter states: “We have had many meetings with your executives over the years but the reality is your platforms remain havens for abuse.

“Your inaction has created the belief in the minds of the anonymous perpetrators that they are beyond reach. The relentless flow of racist and discriminatory messages feeds on itself: the more it is tolerated by Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, platforms with billions of users, the more it becomes normal, accepted behaviour.”

The letter was signed by Football Association chief executive Mark Bullingham, his counterparts at the Premier League and the EFL, Richard Masters and Trevor Birch, the director of the women’s professional game Kelly Simmons, Professional Footballers’ Association chief executive Gordon Taylor, League Managers Association chief executive Richard Bevan, referees’ chief Mike Riley and Kick It Out chair Sanjay Bhandari.

The letter concludes: “Players, match officials, managers and coaches of any origin and background and at any level of football should be able to participate in the game without having to endure illegal abuse.

“We, the leaders of the game in English football, will do everything we can to protect them, but we cannot succeed until you change the ability of offenders to remain anonymous.

“We note the current assurances from Facebook that standards will be tightened, but far more is needed to drive change.

“We call for meetings with your organisations to discuss the evidence of abuse on your platforms, the action you are taking, and how you plan to directly address the matters outlined in this letter.”