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A Brazilian social media campaign is using geotagged data to expose people who use hate speech online and then hide behind anonymity, according to takepart.

And the exposure could come in the form a giant billboard near their home, the report says.

Criola, an Afro-Brazilian civil rights organization, has launched a campaign to put racist and abusive commenters on blast. The idea came about after a Black weather reporter in Brazil was the object of severe racial harassment on Facebook.

Via takepart:

That’s the idea at the heart of “Virtual Racism, Real Consequences,” a Brazilian campaign that posts billboards with offensive online comments in the neighborhood where they were published—potentially squashing the idea that social media platforms such as Twitter or Facebook are an anonymous Wild West of bigoted name-calling.

            […]

The effort tracks down the geotagged locations of the authors of anonymous comments posted on social media; Criola then purchases space on billboards or on buses nearby. Although the campaign blurs out names and profile pictures, the bigoted postings are exposed for everyone to see.

The act of exposing a person’s identity after they post offensive comments online could have dire consequences. Just ask former public relations executive Justine Sacco, who lost her job in 2013, after tweeting, “Going to Africa. Hope I don’t get AIDS. Just kidding. I’m white!”

Do you think the campaign will work? Sound off…

SOURCE: takepart | PHOTO CREDIT: Getty

 

Here’s Why Racists Need To Watch Their Twitter Fingers  was originally published on newsone.com