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Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden writes to the FA to reinforce Government's commitment to trying to protect footballers from disgusting racist attacks on social media

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden has written an impassioned memo to the FA reinforcing the Government's commitment to eradicate sickening online abuse aimed at players.

Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial, Axel Tuanzebe, Reece James and Romaine Sawyers have all been targeted recently by disgusting racist attacks on social media.

And Sportsmail can reveal Dowden has emailed Paul Elliott, the chair of the FA's inclusion advisory board, outlining the Government's determination to protect footballers from abuse on the internet through the forthcoming Online Harms Bill.

Oliver Dowden has written to the FA to reinforce Government's commitment to tackling racism

It is believed that in the correspondence, Dowden underlines the importance of ensuring social media companies, such as Twitter and Instagram, are held to greater account.