Brazilian Man Sues Lulu Over Negative Rating
Lulu, an app which lets women rate men anonymously, has been sued by a Brazilian man unhappy with his negative rating.
The app uses Facebook to access men’s profiles and allows women to rate their character, appearance and sexual performance using fixed hashtags.
Billing itself as a “dating compass” for women, it was recently launched in Brazil to great success – becoming one of the most downloaded apps in the country.
But Felippo de Almeida Scolari was unimpressed when a friend showed him his profile – where he received a 7.7/10, accompanied with hashtags including “#Doesn’tCallTheNextDay”, “#ShouldComeWithAWarning” and “#CheaperThanBreadandButter”.
Speaking to The Telegraph, Scolari said: “I was disgusted because I didn’t authorise my details to be used by this app.
“I have a girlfriend and she learned about it because a mutual friend sent it to us.
“She was annoyed because she didn’t like seeing this kind of thing written about me.”
Scolari, a law academic, believes that the app is unconstitutional because Brazilian law forbids anonymous and disparaging comments to be published.
So he decided to sue the app’s creators, Luluvise, for R$27,120 (£7,000) in damages, which he has promised to donate to a support group for children with cancer.
“It’s a question of privacy on the internet.
“I want to see the app no longer allowing people to comment anonymously and Facebook no longer giving personal details to any app,” he said.
His lawyer, Dr. Fábio Scolari Vieira said: “Felippo’s case was submitted on behalf of millions of others; many people have expressed support on social networks.
“Many people have been in touch who also feel their image has been violated, or used in an undue way.
“What we’re asking for is regulation according to the Brazilian constitution.”
The case is listed to go before court on March 26.
Last Friday, the public prosecutor in Brasilia opened an inquiry into the app, giving its creators five days to explain itself, saying that the app was “capable of offending the rights of millions of male users.”
Lulu’s founder, Alexandra Chong, told Brazilian magazine Epoca: “We designed the Lulu in order to comply with local laws in the United States and Brazil, and we have an excellent team of lawyers and consultants.
“I’m not aware of any case in Brazil.”
The app allows men to view only their stats or add photos of themselves, without giving them access to the ratings.
There is, however, a function for men to remove their profiles from the database.
