England defender Jess Carter has revealed she will take a step back from social media after suffering "a lot of racial abuse" during Euro 2025 and her Lionesses team-mate Bronze believes that it is an unpleasant consequence of the team's success at international level.
The full-back said: "The bigger the game gets, the bigger the noise becomes, the more fans there are, but the more critics there are.
"We're obviously open to critics - that's why we love the sport - but we're not open to abuse. Especially in women's football, the online abuse seems to be getting worse and worse.
"We see it more in the stadiums in men's football and online, but I think with women's football there seems to be a real target online.
"It's something that we're very aware of. There is a way to make a change. There is a solution. I don't have the answer, but I'm sure that there is one."
Bronze has also called for social media platforms to take more action against those who are using the platforms to abuse footballers.
The Chelsea defender said: "People need to be held accountable.
"We don't want it to be small steps anymore.
"No player needs social media. We play football because we love the sport, we love playing. We do love connecting with our fans, social media is a great way to do that, but we don't need it.
"That's something that the platforms should be very aware of. We can thrive without it."
Bronze also praised Carter for the "empowering" decision to speak publicly about the online abuse she has been subjected to.
She said: "For her to speak out is so empowering to our whole team in general, especially to the likes of someone like Michelle [Agyemang] who is in her first tournament.
"It gives people more power to be brave, stand up and speak up and see all the team-mates and the country are behind [Carter]. That means a lot in moments like this.
"A lot of players have known that this has always been an issue in football. To hear Jess talking about it yesterday, we're all just so disappointed in so-called fans writing these messages.
"For Jess herself, she probably wouldn't put it out to the world, but it's obviously difficult for her to go through. We know it's not just Jess as well."
