Skip to main content

The West Midlands Victims’ Commissioner is joining a team which includes England Manager Gareth Southgate and England star Lucy Bronze.

Nicky Brennan will join the ‘EE Hope United Squad’ which has been set up to help them lobby for change and to better protect women and girls online. 

Nicky has been handed the number 10 shirt and joined Hope United’s call for new stringent policies to be introduced as part of the proposed Online Safety Bill.

More than 60 UK sports men and women, presenters and journalists have signed EE’s open letter to policy makers calling on changes to be made as soon as possible.

The proposed Online Safety Bill has been promised “to make the UK the safest place in the world to be online”, tackling the dark side of the online world where perpetrators send sexist hate to many women and girls across the country.

EE’s open letter is calling for legislators to pass the full Bill, with additional provisions that violence against women and girls be named as a priority harm alongside terrorism and child sexual abuse material (CSAM).

Signatories of EE’s open letter also include Rio Ferdinand and Marcus Rashford, who have joined Marc Allera, CEO of EE and Seyi Akiwowo, Founder & CEO of Glitch, to lobby the Government to set out clearer rules for what is and isn’t acceptable online, and for social media platforms to take increased action in upholding their terms of service and reducing abusive content.

West Midlands Victims’ Commissioner Nicky Brennan said: “I regularly see for myself examples of the horrific misogynistic abuse women are subjected to online.

“By publicly backing EE’s Hope United squad I was personally subjected to a barrage of abuse from men and women.

“It is fantastic that EE are taking this matter so seriously and I was delighted to be invited to join the Hope United squad. I look forward to working with EE going forward on this campaign.”

Marc Allera, CEO of EE, said: “While the roaring success of the Lionesses at the UEFA Women’s Euro this summer provoked an outpouring of positivity across the country, it is evident that there is still work to be done: we, as a tech and innovation leader, have a responsibility to encourage change within the Government and social media publishers, and ensure that victims of online abuse are protected from harm.”

Back to News Archive

Latest Posts

Keep up to date with news stories about the work of the Police and Crime Commissioner. Go to the Press Office.

All News

Get the Latest news