Due to the prevalence of viral injured animal videos, a phenomenon has arisen that some people will injure an animal in order to film a video in hopes it will go viral on social media sites such as Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Reddit, or Twitter (among others). Some companies (such as The Dodo) even pay for such videos, promoting this trend.

Since it's impossible to know when a video is legitimate rather than faked (with possible death to the animal resulting), these videos should no longer be allowed on any social media platform. Allowing such videos encourages animal cruelty and abuse.