Removing “HTTP://” From the_author_meta?

Question

By default WordPress prints http:// in front of URLS users add in their profile, which are called using the following code:

<?php the_author_meta('user_url'); ?>

Could somebody provide me the code to strip these URLS of "HTTP://" by default? (While still working as a link and not touching WP's backend... I assume this could be a function?)