Manchester United star Anthony Martial faces racial abuse on Instagram

In what is becoming a steadily unsurprising problem, Manchester United player Anthony Martial was once again subjected to racial abused on social media after the Red Devils only managed a 1-1 draw against West Brom on Sunday.

The French forward played 66 minutes last night, and was targeted online for the second time in three weeks. The abuse has been taking place all over social media as of late, but Instagram was the platform in focus on this occasion.

Unfortunately, Facebook, which owns Instagram, has been taking what is seen as a light approach to punishment when it comes to racial abuse against footballers or other users in general. Kick It Out, an organisation fighting racism in football, has slammed the social media giants.

"It's so predictable now. I wonder if this account will be barred for a month and collect their 'Insta slap on the wrist' and 'don't do that again' talk," said Troy Townsend, a spokesperson for the group.

Fellow Manchester United players Marcus Rashford and Axel Tuanzebe also faced social media abuse in recent weeks. Yan Dhanda, who plays for Swansea, did not get much support from Facebook after the company refused to ban a user who had abused him online.

Manchester United had always stood by its statement condemning abuse against its players. The club has also joined others who have been pushing social media platforms to take stronger actions against online abusers.

According to the BBC, Police has been informed about the abusive messages, but it is unclear if they are looking to make an arrest.

Facebook has said that while they are horrified by the abuse that's going on in their platforms, It's not easy to impose the requirement to validate a user's identity with documentation upon opening an account due to privacy laws in different countries.

However, it has also stated that they are moving towards banning users indefinitely instead of temporary suspensions for repeat offenders.