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Stop the portrayal of animal suffering!
We are talking about deeds of severest animal cruelty of which the mere imagination is already hard to bear. But on social media, these images can spread with almost no restrictions in the form of pictures and videos across millions of users worldwide:

• Videos under the title “animal crush” document how living animals are being trampled to death – insects, rabbits, kittens and puppies.
• “This is what I do with stray dogs when they follow me”, a man writes under a video on which he throws a dog down a gorge.
• Three cats are being drowned while filming and published under the title “drowning kittens”.
• A picture of a dog with tape stuck on its muzzle is posted with the words: “That happens when you’re not quiet”.
• A video of a cat, trapped in a running microwave, that is fighting for its life...
• Pictures of gory dog fights, videos of brutal mistreatments of animals...

This must be stopped!

On social media, there is no differentiation whether contents were created for informative or documentary reasons or merely to reach exposure. In general, social networks rarely take action against the display of animal suffering content. Thereby they normalize violence against animals and contribute to our society becoming more and more comfortable with animal suffering – this could cause massive deteriorations for animal welfare worldwide. Furthermore, social networks provide users with the possibility to save and share these contents – and even allow them to animate each other to imitate these deeds.

As Welttierschutzgesellschaft (WTG) we are convinced that the responsibility to promote a respectful coexistence of animals and humans, and not to offer a platform for animal suffering, also lies within social networks! Therefore, we demand from the operators of social networks:

Stop the display of animal suffering contents that are not fulfilling a purpose of information or documentation!

It is absolutely necessary that social networks

• consistently examine whether the portrayed animal suffering fulfils documentary or informative purposes to promote awareness regarding grievances (practiced by organisations and the media). If the context does not indicate that, these contents must be irrevocably deleted.
• The community standards, to which users commit themselves when registrating and creating a profile, must therefore be comprisingly complemented by adding the topic of animal suffering, and
• compliance with them must also be monitored consistently. In the case of breaches, they must ensure that no further dissemination of the content – through others and the creator – is possible.

Please, dear animal lovers, stand up against animal suffering with us. Support our claim addressing the operators of social networks with your signature! All background information regarding the campaign “Stop animal suffering in social networks” can be found here: https://welttierschutz.org/en/campaign-social-media/