A disturbing online industry is growing in plain sight. People are deliberately abusing animals, filming their suffering, and uploading the footage to social media where it attracts views, followers, advertising revenue, and sometimes even donations. According to researchers, thousands of animal cruelty videos have generated more than 5 billion views online. This is not a fringe problem. It is a global crisis.
Recently, animal welfare organizations from around the world recently gathered in Indonesia for the first international summit dedicated to confronting the explosion of online animal abuse content.
Sign the petition to demand stronger policies to detect, remove, and prevent animal cruelty content across major social media platforms.
Researchers have documented videos involving dogs, cats, rabbits, snakes, primates, pangolins, and other animals being exploited for entertainment. Some creators allegedly go even further, deliberately placing animals in danger before staging dramatic "rescues" designed to generate clicks, followers, and donations.
Experts warn that the problem extends beyond animal welfare. Children are increasingly exposed to this content online, while wildlife trafficking networks are also using digital platforms to profit from animal exploitation. And despite years of warnings, the problem continues to grow.
Social media companies have developed sophisticated systems to identify many other forms of harmful content. Animal torture should receive the same level of attention.
Platforms should establish dedicated animal cruelty moderation teams, permanently ban accounts that create or profit from animal abuse, prohibit monetization of suspicious rescue content, strengthen detection tools, and cooperate with law enforcement when criminal activity is suspected.
Sign the petition now to demand meaningful policies that remove animal cruelty content, hold offenders accountable, and stop the spread of this disturbing online industry.
