Recently, while scrolling through my FacebookNews Feed, I was alarmed to find people sharing a video of an animal being tortured and killed. The footage shows a man dragging a cat on a leash, kicking it, and tossing it in front of a snarling pit bull that’s chained to a wall. The cat tries several times to escape, and each time the man, laughing, shoves him closer and closer until the dog is finally able to grab him. The cat does not survive.

Within an hour of reporting the video, I received a surprising response from the Facebook Help Team. “We reviewed the video you reported for containing graphic violence and found it doesn’t violate our Community Standards".

Facebooks community standards on graphic content reads as: Facebook has long been a place where people turn to share their experiences and raise awareness about issues important to them. Sometimes, those experiences and issues involve graphic content that is of public interest or concern, such as human rights abuses or acts of terrorism. In many instances, when people share this type of content, it is to condemn it. However, graphic images shared for sadistic effect or to celebrate or glorify violence have no place on our site. When people share any content, we expect that they will share in a responsible manner. That includes choosing carefully the audience for the content. For graphic videos, people should warn their audience about the nature of the content in the video so that their audience can make an informed choice about whether to watch it.

What Facebook is saying here is that animal cruelty of any kind is okay to be posted on their website as long as it comes with a warning sign? Can children make an informed choice on watching these videos?. Unfortunately the video I watched did not come with a warning sign, yet this same video could not be removed because it did not breach thier community standards? 

I'm sure I am not the only person who has watched a video on Facebook that's shown animal cruelty, with or without a warning sign.

What about Facebook groups that are dedicated to the killing of animals? A particular page I reported not long ago advertised the killing of stray cats, locations of stray cats and how they could be killed. Facebook again told me this did not breach thier community standards. 

The solution here is simple -

Help me petition to Facebook to update their community standards to include reporting animal cruelty or abuse. Signing this petition won't end animal abuse completely, but it will help 'police' animal abuse posted online, and help prosecute abusers.