Animal Abuse
What is online animal abuse?
Online animal abuse refers to the use of social media platforms and the internet to engage in, promote, or distribute content involving the mistreatment, harm, or exploitation of animals. This can take several forms, including:
- Live-streaming or uploading videos/photos: Showing acts of cruelty, violence, or neglect towards animals.
- Social media posts: Promoting or glorifying animal abuse, sometimes accompanied by hashtags that encourage such behaviour.
- Online trading: Involvement in illegal wildlife trade or selling animals under conditions that cause them harm or distress.
- Cyberbullying: Targeting individuals or organizations that work to protect animals, sometimes using threats or harassment to discourage their efforts.
- Animal exploitation: Using animals for entertainment purposes in a way that causes them distress or harm, such as in viral challenge videos or pranks.
Such activities not only perpetuate harm to animals but also contribute to a culture of insensitivity and violence towards animals. Legal frameworks and social media platform policies often address these issues, but enforcement can be challenging.
Is online animal abuse banned on social media?
For most social media platforms, content involving animal cruelty is strictly forbidden, with it going against TikTok, Facebook, and many other platforms' community guidelines.
Where do I report online abuse abuse on social media?
To report any form of animal abuse online, users should always report content directly to the social media platform it is hosted on. If the social media platform or website fails to take action, anyone over the age of 13 in the UK can use Report Harmful Content to escalate their report directly to the platform involved.
