ADVERTISING

Latest Photo Galleries

Signs of Tension Signs of Tension

Published on 04/11/2016

Rio: a City in Metamorphosis Rio: a City in Metamorphosis

Published on 11/19/2015

Brazilian Markets

17h32

Bovespa

+0,16% 126.954

16h43

Gold

0,00% 117

17h00

Dollar

+0,55% 5,0249

16h30

Euro

+0,49% 2,65250

ADVERTISING

Child Pornography Leads Brazilian Internet Complaints, Study Shows

02/18/2014 - 09h29

Advertising

BRUNO ROMANI
FOR FOLHA

As a reflection of its popularity in the country, Facebook reached the top of the list of complaints of internet crimes made in Brazil in 2013.

The social network housed 30% of pages reported last year. If organized by type of crime, the leading number of complaints would be in regards to child pornography.

The survey cited was done by NGO Safernet, which specializes in security on the internet by way of the National Center of Cybercrime Complaints. The page gathers statistics from seven entities that have online channels for anonymous accusations.

Folha had exclusive access to the study's numbers.

Some 16,672 unique pages hosted by Facebook were reported, jumping 47.5% from the previous year's 11,305. In the same period, the number of active monthly users went from 61 million to 83 million, a 36% jump.

Until 2012, the leader in the rankings was Orkut, a position occupied by the Google social network since 2006, when the numbers started to be recorded. In its last year on the top, Orkut was responsible for 32% of complaints, while Facebook, in second place, was responsible for 20%.

In 2013, the order was reversed, and the Google service came in second with 19%, or 10,373 complaints. There was a decrease of 42% in cases involving Orkut.

Although it was expected the most popular social network would also have the most complaints, the position swap between Facebook and Orkut was slow to happen. Since September 2011, Mark Zuckerberg's business has been the favorite of Brazilians.

Apart from Facebook and Orkut, other services with social elements complete the top-ranking sites. YouTube (3%), Twitter (2%) and Ask (1%) are in the top 5.

Despite being a thermometer, it is important to note that not everything that is reported to the center is a crime - Safernet did not say how many complaints became legal charges.

Site data do not exclude cases where the allegation is false or without ground. Someone might, for example, report a page without illicit content just to harm a third party.

PORNOGRAPHY AND RACISM

In Brazil, the most reported type of crime is still child pornography. There were 80,195 complaints in 2013. But this does not apply to Facebook, where the most reported crime is racism, with 6,811 cases. Child pornography is the second most reported, with 4,830 notifications.

For Thiago Tavares Nunes de Oliveira, president of Safernet, users are less exposed on Facebook, and therefore complain less.

"There are two reasons for this: they implant image detections filters, which block a photo even before it's loaded," he said.

The situation is reversed with Orkut, which is still plagued with allegations of child pornography (4,704 complaints). The crime of condoning and inciting threats against someone's life ranks second (1,718 complaints).

Translated by JILL LANGLOIS

Read the article in the original language

SXC
Reflection of its popularity in the country, Facebook reached the top of the list of complaints of internet crimes made in Brazil in 2013
Reflection of its popularity in the country, Facebook reached the top of the list of complaints of internet crimes made in Brazil in 2013

You have been successfully subscribed. Thanks!

Close

Are you interested in news from Brazil?

Subscribe to our English language newsletter, delivered to your inbox every working day, and keep up-to-date with the most important news from Brazil.

Cancel