Evangelical Christians in Brazil are going louco for Faceglória, a new, “sin-free” Facebook knockoff for the very religious. Since launching a month ago, Faceglória has over 100,000 users pressing “Amen” instead of “like”. It also has strict posting policies: No swear words, no violence, no gay content or erotica, definitely no gory gay erotica. The emphasis on purity made us wonder: How hard is it to get kicked off South America’s holiest social site?
I made a profile to find out, choosing the digital mien of an ardent fan of the rap-rock pioneer and Florida native William “Fred” Durst. The Faceglória team has an automated moderation system that prohibits posting over 600 bad/offensive/swear words — if you try to publish a status update with an offending word or phrase, it won’t let you. After Googling “most offensive Brazilian Portuguese swears” I tried to tell my new Faceglória friends that they are fuckers, but I was quickly rebuffed by this system.
HOWEVER: It does not have a filter for English swear words, which means I could spout all the derogatory nonsense I wanted in my native tongue. To test the waters, I posted the lyrics to his group Limp Bizkit’s seminal 1999 anthem “Nookie,” which contains an explicit description of the emotional effects of cuckolding.
It went up without a hitch! I even got an “Amen” from one of my new internet friends. The posts on Faceglória aren’t so different than stuff you see on Facebook: Boring photo albums and inaccurate Morgan Freeman quotes abound, and none of my new friends so far have deemed it necessary to flag my sinful postings.
Faceglória is moderated by volunteers who scrutinize content for unholiness, including bikini selfies and photos with cigarettes and alcohol. Still, when I attempted a posting spree that checked off every no-no sinbox on the list, all of my posts went through.
I considered posting Goatse to truly test the outer limits of the community tolerance, but it makes me physically ill to look at Goatse so I didn’t do that. Instead, I went the full throttle Jesus erotica route.
Yet, still, my Fred Durst profile remained active, my feed full of exuberantly profane posts. The Facebook imitator’s content moderation is too full of holes to stay holy.