Your Racist Posts Can End Up on Billboards

Brazil’s Method for Fighting Online Hatred Has Racists Posting Scared

The campaign, “Virtual racism, real consequences” has an ingenious method for fighting the anonymous nature of online racism. The group behind the campaign geolocates the person who posted an offensive comment, then puts it up on a billboard in his or her neighborhood.

The campaign’s masterminds, the Criola group, “a nonprofit that works to defend the rights of black women in Brazil”, may blur out the name and profile picture, but it’s not hard to determine who is behind the slurs if one happens to be Facebook friends with the poster.

The Criola group insists they are not trying to call anyone out specifically. "We omit names and faces of the authors because we have no intention of exposing anyone. We just want to educate people so that in future they think about the consequences before posting racist comments."

“Virtual racism, real consequences” was launched after Maria Júlia Coutinho, the first black weather forecaster on Brazilian TV, was attacked by a deluge of inappropriate Facebook comments for correcting another anchor on air.

As Yahoo Finance reports, “the offensive comments range from telling her to ‘go f--- herself’ to saying her nickname ‘Maju’ made it clear she was from Africa.”

Would you support this project coming to the U.S.? Or do you believe it violates your free speech protections under the First Amendment? Sound off below (but remember, your hate speech can end up on a billboard in your hometown)!

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Written by

Alex Logan

As cohost of the political commentary series, Jesse Ventura's Off the Grid, Alex Logan is The Body's body man. Alex and the former governor, action star, wrestler, and everything else in between, tackle the headlines of the week with an uncensored and independent spirit as we hold the two parties' feet to the fire. A deserter of Dayton, Ohio, Alex graduated from the University of Southern California Film School with a degree in Writing for Screen and TV. Alex has assisted in the booking of live acts for the Creative Artists Agency; written jokes, sketches and stunts for MTV and producer Johnny Knoxville; developed treatments and scripts for Anonymous Content and Mark Gordon Productions; and co-founded the Improv Olympic West’s headliner sketch group, The Mutiny, who play sold out shows around LA and at the Chicago and San Francisco Sketch Fests, as well as producing numerous videos for the front pages of YouTube, College Humor, and Funny Or Die. He did a stint as Editor and Technical Producer on Larry King’s Hulu talk show before partnering with Larry and Jesse to co-create Off the Grid. In the first season, Alex co-headed the entire production, writing, producing, and cohosting over 150 episodes. And he's back for Season Two, now serving as producer and host of a series of Man on the Street field pieces called, On the Grid. He also wrote this professional bio with his own two hands.

The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of Ora Media, LLC its affiliates, or its employees.