Animal Cruelty
On Social Media
Remove animal cruelty content from YouTube, Facebook and TikTok
At International Animal Rescue we receive countless messages from the public informing us about an incredibly worrying issue. Alongside our own research and that of our charity partners of the Social Media Animal Cruelty Coalition in the ‘Making Money From Misery’ report, it has become very clear that animal cruelty content is spiraling out of control across the internet. And worryingly, social media platforms such as YouTube, Facebook and TikTok appear to be largely indifferent to the problem. Cruelty content could not go viral or become profitable if such platforms did not make it possible.
We are calling on these social media giants to take definitive steps to stamp out this horrifying trend once and for all.
Cruelty content ranges from the subtle to the extreme. From wild animals kept as pets to kittens smashed or baby monkeys buried alive; from animals pitted against one another in forced fights to staged, fake “rescues” - the animals’ distress may be obvious and caused intentionally, or it may not be apparent to some viewers or content creators. What all of this cruelty content has in common, however, is that animal suffering is recorded and presented for our “entertainment.”
Please join us as we ask YouTube, Facebook and TikTok to:
- Adopt standardised definitions, across all social media platforms and in consultation with experts, of animal cruelty and cruelty content;
- Ensure that their policies conform with these definitions, expressly prohibit cruelty content, and are adhered to;
- Immediately put into place robust monitoring systems to detect and remove cruelty content and cruelty content channels and creators without reliance on user reports;
- Improve reporting mechanisms for animal cruelty content published on their platform, and ensure that reported content violating their policies is removed;
- Stop paying channel or video owners for cruelty content;
- Ensure that content depicting animal suffering, used by animal welfare and environmental organisations for legitimate campaign or educational purposes, is differentiated from cruelty content and not removed from their platform on cruelty content grounds.
Sign the Petition
Take action now – sign the petition to help end this out of control issue once and for all! By signing this petition we will add your voice together with our SMACC partner petitions to create a united front to tackle these media platforms. The collated numbers will be included in a letter to each of the following CEOs, Youtube CEO Susan Wojcicki, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer. We will not share your personal details with anyone.
