“Choose one of the two goals at the beginning of the slave advocates: The Path of the Tyrant or the Path of the Liberator. Be the owner of the slave property or achieve the abolition of slavery. Everything is in your hands,” the description of the game read.
The game was downloaded by Google Play on Wednesday after it first appeared on the market of the program on April 20. But now it is in the middle of several complaints – it is a back wave that has also caused a debate about the rules in the digital space.
“It’s unbelievable that in a country where racism is a crime, a country that suffered from the wounds of slavery, a digital platform creates a cruel game like this,” Orlando Silva de Jesus Junior, a federal lawmaker, he said in Portuguese during the congressional debate. “Young people are the ones who consume a lot of sports. It is unacceptable for things like this to happen.”
🚨 Hurry up! MUST KNOW! The Play Store, the Android app store, has a “game” called SLAVERY SIMULATOR, where the “joke” involves buying, selling, flogging black slaves. It is inhuman, disgusting, horrible. IT IS DIVIDED! 👇🏿
A @unegrobrasil… pic.twitter.com/QHi8oaaSOi
— Orlando Silva (@orlandosilva) May 24, 2023
On Wednesday, Silva joined André Alexandre Garcia da Silva, of the Unegro ethnic group, in submitting a complaint to the Public Prosecutor’s Office. The complaint accuses Google of violating a Brazilian law that prohibits “engaging, persuading or inciting discrimination or discrimination based on race, color, ethnicity, religion or nationality.” Silva he vowed on Twitter seeking the highest possible outcome, “especially the arrest of those responsible.”
Silva’s complaint also asked the federal agency to investigate several offensive comments on Google Play — including one that praised the experiment as “a perfect representation of what I want to do in real life,” according to images included in the filing.
“A good time pass game, but it doesn’t have a lot of torture options,” one user wrote. “They can also include the opportunity to whip a slave. Besides, the game is good.”
A Google Brazil spokesperson said the online store has “a standard procedures its purpose is to protect users and all developers must comply. “
“We do not allow programs that promote violence or incite hatred against people or groups because of race or ethnicity, or show or promote violence or other dangerous activities,” he said, adding that users must report possible violations of the law. to meet.
The controversy prompted some politicians – including lawmaker Ivan Valente, Rio de Janeiro Councilor Thais Ferreira and São Paulo Councilor Elaine Mineiro – to file their complaints. The Brazilian Bar Association condemned “Slavery Simulator,” saying in a statement that it “represents a retrogressive and sadistic racist mentality that should never have existed, or continue to exist.”
On Wednesday, the Public Prosecutor’s Office opened an investigation into why the game, which had 1,000 downloads before being removed, was found on the platform. In its statement, the agency said Google has three days to provide “specific information about the game” – including its availability and “a complete copy of all documentation and internal control procedures for the official requests made by the developer.”
The Magnus Games portfolio includes a variety of simulator games. As of Thursday evening, another game called “Slavery Simulator” was no longer available on Google Play. The slave game, as well as others, appeared to be available in English and for download on some Android app installation sites.
The producer did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Washington Post. In its previously unavailable Google Play description, Magnus Games advises: “This game is made for fun. We oppose slavery in the real world.”
But Silva, the lawmaker, said the game underscored the need for Brazil’s elected leaders to come through Price of 2630another law called “the law of false news.”
The bill is set to be one of the most controversial in the world regarding the regulation of Big Tech companies and their social media platforms. Price of 2630 – which is equivalent to European Union’s Digital Services Act from 2022 – it forces internet companies to report illegal content and imposes heavy fines if they fail to do so. But a The debate over the bill has grown.
Big companies like Google and Meta, as well as free speech activists and conservative lawmakers, oppose the law. Earlier this month, Marcelo Lacerda, head of government relations and policy at Google Brazil, they argued that “Reckless laws would make the Internet worse, restrict fundamental freedoms … and create measures that put free speech and free speech at risk.”
But on Wednesday, with news of the slave game, Silva denied the allegations. “The existence of such a phenomenon and its presence on the platforms shows the “CONVENIENCE of controlling the digital environment,” he said. tweeted.