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Police Launch Social Media Racism Investigation in Brazil
http://riotimesonline.com/brazil-news/rio-politics/brazilian-police-launch-racism-investigation-into-comments-on-popular-actress-facebook-page/RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – On Tuesday, November 3rd, the Delegacia de Repressão a Crimes de Informática/DRCI (Police for the Suppression of the Computer Crimes) a department of the of the Civil Police of Rio de Janeiro, opened an investigation to determine if comments left on Afro-Brazilian actress Tais Araújo’s Facebook page profile picture were racist or racial slurs, both punishable crimes in Brazil.
Afro-Brazilian actress Tais Araújo received numerous offensive comments on social media during the last weekend of October, photo reproduction/Facebook. The incident began on October 31st when after posting an image of herself with natural hair as her Facebook profile picture, Araújo’s post was flooded with both offensive and later, supportive comments. There are over 16,000 comments at the time of this report. Some of the original negative comments, when roughly translated from Portuguese, read “Who posted the picture of this gorilla on Facebook”; “Lend my your hair I want to wash the dishes”; “I did not know the zoo had a camera”; and “How can someone find that hair beautiful.”
In Brazil, both racism and racial slurs are considered crimes. Those found guilty of racial slurs can face up to three years in prison, while racism is a considered a more serious crime and came be punishable with up to five years in prison.
“The Internet is not a blank page, you can not publish anything irresponsibly,” Alessandro Thiers, the delegate investigating the comments told Agência Brasil. “Posting on the internet generates a responsibility. A person can be held accountable not only for the crime, but also for moral damage or anything else.” - See more at: http://riotimesonline.com/brazil-news/rio-politics/brazilian-police-launch-racism-investigation-into-comments-on-popular-actress-facebook-page/#sthash.sCTg1yGB.dpuf
