Google has withdrawn a gaming app that allowed players to buy, sell and torture black virtual “slaves” after a racism outcry in Brazil.
Dubbed “Slavery Simulator”, the Portuguese-language game saw players trade in slaves and strategies to prevent the abolition of slavery to amass virtual riches.
The prosecutor’s office said it had opened an investigation for “hate speech” related to the game downloaded by hundreds of people.
The app itself had come with a disclaimer condemning “all types of slavery” and insisting the game was “solely for entertainment purposes”.
Google has withdrawn a gaming app that allowed players to buy, sell and torture black virtual “slaves” after a racism outcry in Brazil.
Dubbed “Slavery Simulator”, the Portuguese-language game saw players trade in slaves and strategise to prevent the abolition of slavery to amass virtual riches.
The prosecutor’s office said it had opened an investigation for “hate speech” related to the game downloaded by hundreds of people.
The app itself had come with a disclaimer condemning “all types of slavery” and insisting the game was “solely for entertainment purposes”.
After withdrawing the app from its Play store, Google said in a statement that “applications that promote violence or hated against groups of people or individuals because of their skin color or ethnic origin” would not be allowed on its platform.
The company invited users to report offensive content.
Brazil’s ministry of racial equality said it had asked Google to put in place measures “to filter out content containing hate speech, intolerance and racism” and “to prevent it from spreading so easily, without moderation”.
Racism is still a problem in Brazil, the last country in the Americas to abolish slavery, in 1888. More than 56 per cent of the population is Afro-Brazilian.
Source: AP