New data highlights scale of online animal cruelty

(c) Aaron Gekoski

The Asia for Animals Social Media Animal Cruelty Coalition, or SMACC, of which Born Free is a member, was created in 2020 to shine a light on the hidden world of animal cruelty content in all its forms, and to lead the way in ending it.  

Through its member organisations and volunteers, SMACC collects and collates data on animal cruelty content which it uses in its efforts to persuade social media platforms to end the availability, spread and profitability of such content, and to ensure that there are no benefits to its creation or promotion. 

In 2024, SMACC identified more than 83,000 posts involving cruelty content across 11 major social media platforms. More than 80,000 of these were reported to the Coalition by members of the public, with nearly 90% found on Facebook, followed by TikTok and YouTube. 

The posts were traced to accounts in 28 countries across four continents. 

Despite members of the public and SMACC reporting these links to the platforms via their reporting mechanisms, only around a third had been removed by early 2025. 

Common themes in the links included animals used as entertainers, physical abuse of animals, and wild animals being kept as pets in wholly inappropriate conditions.  

Some of the videos shared online showed deeply distressing forms of cruelty, including animals being punished, infant animals being forcibly taken from their mothers, and predator and prey animals being forced to confront each other. In some cases, they appear to depict the rescue of animals from adverse situations; however many such posts are staged, in order to generate likes and in some cases donations.  

Although many different species of animals are involved, mammals were the most common group identified, with abuse of primates, dogs, and cats predominating. Around 12% of the animals featured belong to species that are threatened with extinction. 

Responding to the data, Born Free’s Head of Policy, veterinarian Dr Mark Jones, said:  

“The depiction of animal cruelty on social media has become a scourge, and it’s being distributed in plain sight. As well as causing immense animal suffering, it also poses a threat to wild populations, and places the public, particularly young people, at risk of harm. There is strong evidence that exposure to animal cruelty can desensitise people to its impacts and can increase the likelihood of abusive behaviour towards both animals and people. The data released by SMACC is sobering, but its release is vital to inform policy makers and the wider public, and to enable social media platforms to be held to account.”

SMACC was instrumental in securing animal cruelty as a priority offence under the UK’s Online Safety Act, which will require platform operators remove such content and the accounts of people who post it. Born Free will continue to work with Coalition members to bring online animal cruelty to a permanent end and to champion a safer, more compassionate digital space for all animals. 

If you come across animal cruelty content online: 

❌ PLEASE DON’T: 

Intentionally watch, share, or engage with such content. The more views they receive the more they grow in popularity and potential profitability. Even writing comments of condemnation or disliking a post increases its visibility and popularity.  

✔️ PLEASE DO: 

Report any animal abuse and exploitation content directly to the social media platform, and report it to SMACC.