In a statement shared with his combined 14.8 million followers on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, the former Arsenal player said he would remove himself from all social media as of Saturday.
"The sheer volume of racism, bullying and resulting mental torture is too toxic to ignore," he wrote, calling for greater "accountability" online.
"It is far too easy to create an account, use it to bully and harass without consequence and still remain anonymous," he added.
"Until this changes, I will be disabling my accounts across all social platforms. I'm hoping this happens soon."
Like many tech giants, Twitter is under increasing scrutiny for facilitating torrents of invective against users, commonly from anonymous accounts, in posts that are often racist or misogynistic.