Google removed the so-called game Slavery Simulator from its app store following the return of users in Brazil.
The app, developed by Malaysian company Magnus Games, allowed players to act as the owners of captives, with the game’s developer boasting about allowing users to “exchange, buy and sell slaves.” The players allegedly even managed to abuse black people within the game.
It was removed from the Google Play Store on Wednesday.
Local media report that in the month between being added and removed from the Google Play Store, the game was downloaded more than 1,000 times. Several Google Play users have reportedly complained about the game’s content when reviewed on the app store.
Google Play allowed “Slavery Simulator” to be available to users
The existence and creation of “games” that change the time of slavery to encourage the player to buy, sell and flog people in slavery is illegal. @GooglePlay pic.twitter.com/N7RcyYww08
– Africanize (@africanize_) May 24, 2023
《Amidst the discussions about racism, until this Wednesday (the 24th), Google had a game called ‘Slavery Simulator’ in its app store. The game simulates black people who can be punished in the whole game.
This program was not available online this evening.》https://t.co/g5hOWTtDtt— Michele Prado (@MichelePradoBa) May 24, 2023
Spokespeople for Magnus Games and Google were not immediately available for comment when contacted Chance.
However, Google he told the BBC in the words Play Store does not allow “programs that promote violence or hatred against people or groups because of race or ethnicity, or show or encourage violence or other dangerous activities.”
“When errors are found, we take action,” the company said.
Magnus Games said in explanation Slavery Simulator that the company “opposes slavery of any kind” and that the game was “made for entertainment purposes only.
Brazilian lawmaker Orlando Silva he said in a tweet On Thursday, he submitted a request to the country’s Public Prosecutor’s office to begin an investigation into the game and what he described as “the worst case of racism.”
He wrote: “We cannot start doing cruel things.
Local journalists reported that the Public Prosecutor’s Office opened an investigation into how the game was allowed to be sold to users on the Google Play Store.
Silva was not the only lawmaker to publicly criticize the sport. Human rights activist and politician Renata Souza he said in a tweet Thursday that the game was evidence of many rules of the Internet required.
“Google shows a lack of commitment to condemning human rights violations and allows this type of content to be shared on the platform,” he said. “We cannot allow big tech companies to take advantage of freedom of speech to promote hate crimes. Profit cannot come before life!”
Their comments came after Brazil’s Ministry of Ethnic Affairs released a statement on the matter Slavery Simulator games, while the federal government said Wednesday it has scheduled a meeting with Google to discuss its role in anti-discrimination.
Slavery it lived more than 300 years in Brazil, and about 4 million Africans are sent to the country. More than 40% of the slaves who came from Africa to the New World went to Brazil. According to historian Emilia Viotti da Costa.