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Brazilian Non-Profit Criola Group Confronts Racist Social Media Users with Billboards

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A non-profit in Brazil has taken a new approach to dealing with racist trolls on Facebook–confronting them with billboards in their own neighborhoods. The campaign is called “Virtual Racism, Real Consequences,” and was started by the Criola group, a non-profit that works to defend the civil rights of black women in Brazil. The group has started taking out billboards in the neighborhoods of Facebook and Twitter users who make racist comments, and plastering those comments on the billboards. While they blur out the face and name of the offender, the group is hoping that directly confronting the trolls with their own comments will hit close to home–pun intended.

The Criola group began the project this summer, using the geotags that often accompany social media posts to figure out where the racist commenters live. Then, it rents billboards near where the commenters live, and then display the comments on them. Although it blurs out the profiles of the people who make the comments, the campaign attempts to “educate” the offenders as well as passersby about the power of words. The group hopes that people will think twice about posting things online that could be hurtful to others.

The project was inspired by the racist comments that surfaced online after Maria Júlia Coutinho, the first black female meteorologist on Brazilian primetime TV, corrected another anchor on air. She received a lot of online racist backlash. Reading those comments inspired the Criola group to act.

Jurema Werneck, the Criola group’s founder, explained to BBC:

Those people [who post abuse online] think they can sit in the comfort of their homes and do whatever they want on the internet. We don’t let that happen. They can’t hide from us, we will find them.

While the campaign has been active in Brazil since this summer, it began receiving particular international press coverage this week. So, if you’re in Brazil, be careful about what you say online. It could come back to confront you head on.

Anneliese Mahoney
Anneliese Mahoney
Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.
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