Shamed! Brazilians’ racist online comments plastered on billboards

Brazilians who post racist comments online may see their offensive text blown up and displayed on a hoarding near their house.

Brazilians who post racist comments online may see their offensive text blown up and displayed on a hoarding near their house.

Criola, a civil rights organisation run by Afro-Brazilian women, track down addresses of people who post racist online comments and paste the text in huge letters in billboards near their houses.(Official website)

The billboard shaming is part of a campaign called ‘Virtual Racism, Real Consequences’ by Brazil-based NGO, Criola, and is aimed at curbing racism in the virtual world.

Criola, a civil rights organisation run by Afro-Brazilian women, uses the geotagging feature of Twitter and Facebook to track down addresses of such people and then buys billboard space near their houses to post the racist comments in huge letters, although their names and photos are pixelated.

A billboard in Brazil displays an online racist comment which reads “GFY dirty ni*** I dunno u but I wash myself” by a local whose photo and name have been blurred out to conceal identity. (Official website)

“We had no intention of exposing the aggressors. We just wanted to raise awareness. This way people can think about the consequences before posting this kind of comment on the internet,” claimed the organisers on their website.

A billboard in Brazil displays an online racist comment by a local which reads “A black girl called Maju. You can’t complain about prejudice”. The persons’ photo and name have been blurred out to conceal his identity. (Official website)

According to the Brazilian media, the campaign was triggered by an incident where Maria Julia Coutinho, a black weather presenter, was targeted by online trolls who posted racist comments on her channel’s Facebook page.

The NGO is running the campaign in partnership with local billboard media companies.