Luke Littler makes major change on social media to combat trolls

Luke Littler has turned off comments and restricted message replies on social media due to abuse he’s encountered.

The teenage darts sensation has been subjected to boos and jeers at several events so far this year.

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Littler has been fired up by the crowd at multiple nights of the Premier League.

The 19-year-old was also involved in a heated clash with Gian van Veen during their match at night nine in Manchester.

Littler’s social media steps

However, he has revealed he avoided most of the social media backlash despite having 2.1million Instagram followers.

Littler has turned off comments and restricted message replies on the platform.

He explained via Oche 180: “I am always on social media. I see everything.

“But even before Manchester, you can just go on your settings and say you put someone in your story, people can reply to your story and it’s in your requests (section).

“That’s been turned off for ages and ages. So people are messaging me and I’m not seeing anything. I’m just seeing when I’m scrolling.

“Like Gerwyn Price once said (about social media storms), 24 or 48 hours and it’ll be forgotten about.”

Littler’s move comes after he was told to stop rising to the jeers by Wayne Mardle.

The Sky Sports pundit said: “It’s a new phase that he’s going through, he’s starting to bite a little more with the crowd and that’s got to stop.

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“Luke Littler will have to realise, ‘I might have to be that bit quiet, let the darts do the talking’. Antagonising the audience, which he has done on occasions (is not good).

“And don’t talk about the amount of prize money up for grabs that they’re putting in your pocket because that’s not the way forward.”

Littler showed no signs of being affected by the crowd on night 12 in Liverpool on Thursday.

He claimed his fourth nightly win of the year at Liverpool Arena with wins over Luke Humphries, Michael van Gerwen and Jonny Clayton.

In doing so, the Nuke confirmed his spot in the play-offs at the end of the regular season.

Both Littler and Clayton have guaranteed a top four finish after four nightly wins each.

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Littler will continue his campaign at night 13 in Aberdeen this week.

He faces Josh Rock in the quarter-finals, with the winner to play either Stephen Bunting or Gerwyn Price.