Brazilian Racist’s Messages Posted on Neighbourhood Billboards

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C/o BBC
C/o BBC
C/o BBC

Cyberbullying is one of the biggest problems on social media and although there are several ways to counteract this, it still rears its ugly head from time to time. In this case, there is a campaign in Brazil where activists are posting the abusive posts on billboards next to where the offenders live.

According to a report by the BBC, the campaign Virtual racism, real consequences  is being run by an activist group called Criola. The founder, Jurema Werneck explained the intent of the campaign which is to “encourage people to speak out and report racism.” They do this by using tools to determine where the perpetrators live, buy billboard space near them and post the comments they made on either Facebook or Twitter.

“Those people 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” Werneck told the BBC. The civil rights organization campaign was against racism in the country and apparently was motivated by attacks on a journalist by the name Maria Julia Coutinho ironically on the day Brazil celebrates against racial discrimination.

We have seen other incidences where social media has been used to settle an injustice. While for the Brazil case, Twitter and Facebook were used in locating online trolls, in a case from Peru, it was used to fight crime. We may have to see the efficacy of such projects like the one made by Criola in the pursuit of making it safe for everyone to use the various social platforms we have today.