A group of Brazilian evangelical Christians want social media with a different face.
They’ve named their new social media platform “Facegloria” and say violence, sexual themes and obscenities are banned.
“Catholics, Muslims, atheists and even gays are welcome as long as they respect Christian family values,” said Acir Fillo, who helped create the network. “Facebook and other social networks practice an exacerbated liberalism that leads to a profound disrespect of family values.”
He said more than 600 offensive or obscene words, erotic content, violence, and any reference to homosexuality are banned from Facegloria.
Fillo said that Facegloria has attracted at least 120,000 users since its launch in June, with about 2,000 growing each day.
Facebook, which claims some 1.4 billion users around the world, isn’t amused by the upstart’s use of the term “Face.” It sent a cease-and-desist demand to change the name, holding out the possibility of legal action.
“Like any other company we have to take measures to prevent people from being confused or misled and to protect our brand,” the company said in a statement issued in Brazil.
It’s far from unique. Sites such as Faithbook, Godtube, Godinterest and Myfaith also aim at a Christian audience, and many _ including Facegloria itself _ evangelize through accounts on Facebook itself.
Fillo said Facegloria was not created just for religious content. “We want it to be a channel through which people in Brazil and in other countries can debate all the important themes affecting today’s world. Themes like the environment, violence, terrorism, health and education.”
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Stan Lehman in Sao Paulo contributed to this report