Eerily dubbed “The Brocial Network” Facebook’s photo stalking and sharing capabilities have reached a perverse new low. Attracting more then 8000 members since its inception two weeks ago “The Brocial Network” is a new ‘dudes only’ Facebook group where members are bound together by their mutual affection for distributing images of scantily clad women posing in bikinis or lingerie, acquired without consent from their respective Facebook networks. That’s some next level file sharing.
The fact that these images are being distributed without the women knowing (although the group has since been taken down) is yet again reigniting the debate for stricter privacy laws for social media in Australia.
The groups’ creator “King Brocial” (we kid you not) advices members via the “The Brocial Code” – a list of rules that must be adhered to in order to retain membership and access the page – to browse through friends’ social media profiles for “salacious” images. Members are even being encouraged to purchase the group’s paraphernalia – $5 wristbands stating “I’m a Bro” and a plain blue t-shirt with the proud title “Bro” sprawled across the front. Extra points for those who upload images with the hotties actually wearing them. Failure to upload images within a week of being added will result a terminated membership.
If all this wasn’t breaching enough social, moral and ethical boundaries, the names and profile links to the ‘featured’ women are uploaded alongside their images so ‘Bros’ can request a friendship with anyone that takes their fancy. It reminds me of something else creepy that happened one time…
Words by Jess Glass
