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Pandlr
Screenshot
Type of site
Internet forum
Available inPortuguese
OwnerAllan Hubner
URLpandlr.com
CommercialNo
RegistrationOptional
Users>20,500 registered users
LaunchedMarch 20, 2015; 10 years ago (2015-03-20)
Current statusActive

Pandlr, also simply known as PAN, is a Brazilian Internet forum focused on discussions about pop culture and the entertainment industry. The forum is particularly popular among the Brazilian LGBTQ community.[1][2]

History

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Pandlr began in 2005 as the Jovem Pan community on Orkut, originally dedicated to discussions about the Jovem Pan radio station. Following Orkut's shutdown in 2014, the community moved through various platforms, including Grupia, Yoble, and VK, before launching its own dedicated website in March 2015. It was then renamed Pandlr, transitioning from a niche radio fan forum to a broader pop culture discussion platform.[3]

The forum became widely recognized on the Brazilian internet for its viral meme creations, especially in GIF format. Notable examples include memes featuring Brazilian singer Gretchen, which became highly popular and played a significant role in earning her the title of "Brazilian Meme Queen".[4] In 2017, Pandlr drew national and international attention when a member created a series of GIFs featuring Cuca, a character from the Brazilian children's television series Sítio do Picapau Amarelo.[5][6] These GIFs became global memes; media outlets like The South African and Highsnobiety highlighted Pandlr's creations as some of the best memes of the year.[7][8]

In mid-2017, the forum introduced a project called “Memepedia”, an archive intended to document and, in theory, protect the authorship of memes originating from its community.[9] In February 2018, Pandlr attracted additional media attention after spreading a rumor that American singer Selena Gomez had been invited to headline the Super Bowl halftime show the following year.[2][10] However, this claim was later proven to be false.[11]

In early 2023, the forum underwent maintenance before relaunching in February with a new version called Pandlr 3.0.[12][13] Prior to this update, the platform had amassed over 330,000 registered members. Previously, users could create different communities within the platform, but after the update, the forum was centralized into a single unified space.[14]

In August 2024, Pandlr once again made headlines when it became the origin of the hoax soap opera Pé de Chinesa, which quickly became a viral sensation online.[15]

Controversies

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In 2018, Pandlr became embroiled in a controversy involving American rapper Azealia Banks. The issue arose after the forum’s official Twitter account described Banks as "very unprepared for the music industry, despite her talent" and claimed that she "never misses an opportunity to stir up drama between people." This statement quickly gained traction on social media, leading to backlash from Banks’ fans.[16]

Another significant controversy involving Pandlr arose when a private Facebook group bearing the same name was accused of racism. A viral Twitter thread exposed screenshots of group members making racist comments and sharing offensive memes targeting Black people. The controversy gained widespread attention after a 2018 article by BuzzFeed Brasil highlighted the situation.[17][18] Following public backlash, Pandlr administrators issued a statement clarifying that they had no affiliation with the Facebook group, despite the shared name. They emphasized that the forum itself does not condone hate speech or discriminatory behavior.[17]

During Brazil’s 2022 presidential election campaign, Pandlr was once again at the center of controversy due to the spread of misinformation regarding then-president Jair Bolsonaro. According to a report by Gazeta do Povo, the forum was attributed as the origin of misleading narratives alleging connections between Bolsonaro and Freemasonry, as well as satanism.[18][19] These claims were purportedly used as a strategy to sway evangelical voters away from supporting Bolsonaro.[20][21] Discussions on the forum further amplified these narratives, contributing to their widespread dissemination.[18]

In November 2024, Brazilian singer Gretchen, who had long been a recurring subject of memes on the Pandlr forum, an exposure that cemented her status as Brazil's “Queen of Memes”, announced her intention to sue Pandlr. This decision came after forum members allegedly created and disseminated defamatory AI-generated videos linking her image to prostitution.[22] These videos were subsequently shared on X (formerly Twitter), prompting Gretchen to also initiate legal action against the social media platform.[23] According to reports, the videos were produced without her consent and aimed to ridicule and humiliate her by falsely associating her with explicit content.[24]

Impact

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Brazilian researchers in memetics and digital anthropology have highlighted Pandlr as one of the most influential forces behind meme creation in Brazil, as well as a major hub for LGBTQ Internet culture.[9][25] Studies on internet humor and the spread of viral content suggest that niche communities like Pandlr play a fundamental role in shaping online discourse, often setting trends that later reach mainstream platforms.[26]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Fernando Berenguel (July 2, 2020). "Ludmilla diz que viverá relação a três com Manu Gavassi e sua esposa; entenda!". Obsevatório de Música (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved November 21, 2020.
  2. ^ a b "Selena Gomez Was Reportedly Invited To Headline The 2019 Super Bowl Halftime Show". BreatheHeavy.com. August 29, 2018. Retrieved November 21, 2020.
  3. ^ "ON: Qual a história da Pan? - PAN - pandlr". Pandlr. Archived from the original on September 13, 2018. Retrieved November 21, 2020.
  4. ^ Farinhuke, Vinicius (August 24, 2016). "A Gretchenização na Internet". Medium (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved November 21, 2020.
  5. ^ Carolina Maia, Maria. "O petróleo é nosso: Cuca, do Sítio, vira ícone gay internacional". Veja (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved November 21, 2020.
  6. ^ Rodriguez, Mathew. "Cuca, a Brazilian folkloric crocodile, is Twitter's new favorite meme". Mic. Retrieved November 21, 2020.
  7. ^ Roux, Erene (December 20, 2017). "2017 in Memes: Looking back at the most popular memes of the year". The South African. Retrieved November 21, 2020.
  8. ^ Hall, Jake (November 25, 2019). "The 23 Best Memes Of 2017". Highsnobiety. Retrieved November 21, 2020.
  9. ^ a b Caetano, Alexandre; Menezes, Nathalia (December 3, 2017). "Quem são os verdadeiros responsáveis pelos memes no Brasil?". ETNOdigital (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved April 3, 2025 – via Medium.
  10. ^ Gould, Ethan (February 9, 2018). "Twitter Is Fangin' For A Bitta Selena Gomez At The Next Super Bowl". Pedestrian TV. Retrieved November 21, 2020.
  11. ^ Markus, Nick (February 9, 2018). "Selena Gomez's Fans Campaign For Her On Social Media To Perform At Next Year's Super Bowl!". Celebrity Insider. Retrieved November 21, 2020.
  12. ^ "Pandlr.com | Em manutenção". Pandlr. Archived from the original on January 24, 2023. Retrieved April 3, 2025.
  13. ^ "Pandlr 3.0 | Simple forums, better forums!". Pandlr. Archived from the original on February 2, 2023. Retrieved April 3, 2025.
  14. ^ "Grupos – pandlr". Pandlr. Archived from the original on January 27, 2022. Retrieved April 3, 2025.
  15. ^ Ferro, Ives (August 31, 2024). "Quem criou Pé de Chinesa? Influenciador detalha como brincadeira saiu do controle". Notícias da TV (in Brazilian Portuguese). UOL. Retrieved January 25, 2025.
  16. ^ Gregório, Leo (September 24, 2020). "Além de Anitta e Pabllo Vittar, Azealia Banks já brigou com outras dezenas de famosos". Quem. Retrieved November 21, 2020.
  17. ^ a b Nascimento, Victor (September 25, 2018). "Uma thread no Twitter expôs o racismo entre homens gays no grupo da PAN". BuzzFeed Brasil (in Brazilian Portuguese). Archived from the original on January 12, 2021. Retrieved April 3, 2025.
  18. ^ a b c ""Jair Maçonaro satanista": como petistas criam fake news para atrair voto evangélico". Gazeta do Povo (in Brazilian Portuguese). October 5, 2022. Retrieved April 3, 2025.
  19. ^ Ágape, David (October 5, 2022). "'Gabinete do Amor': o esquadrão para defender Lula e atacar opositores". A Investigação (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved April 3, 2025 – via Substack.
  20. ^ Gragnani, Juliana; Braun, Julia (October 4, 2022). "Acusações de satanismo e vídeo na maçonaria marcam início da campanha no 2º turno". BBC News Brasil (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved April 3, 2025.
  21. ^ Pombo, Bárbara (October 7, 2022). "Satanismo e maçonaria turbinam 'fake news' nas redes". Valor Econômico (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved April 3, 2025.
  22. ^ Gretchen [@GretchenCantora] (November 14, 2024). "Entenderam né?" (Tweet) (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved April 2, 2025 – via Twitter.
  23. ^ "Gretchen processa rede social de Elon Musk após polêmicas". MSN (in Brazilian Portuguese). February 6, 2025. Retrieved April 3, 2025.
  24. ^ Oliveira, Fábia (February 6, 2025). "Gretchen processa X após vídeo sobre sexo e candidatura política". Metrópoles (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved April 3, 2025.
  25. ^ Rodrigues, Eduardo (December 2020). Written at 43º Congresso Brasileiro de Ciências da Comunicação. "Memetização da trollagem em fóruns de música pop: Conversações em rede e performance em tópicos sobre fracasso de álbuns". Intercom (Sociedade Brasileira de Estudos Interdisciplinares da Comunicação) (in Brazilian Portuguese). Salvador, Bahia – via ResearchGate.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  26. ^ Declercq, Marie. "Como o LDRV se tornou a espinha dorsal do Brasil memético". Vice Brasil (in Brazilian Portuguese). Archived from the original on January 21, 2018. Retrieved April 3, 2025.
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