It should never have taken 350 videos of animals being tortured and killed for federal charges to be filed.

But that’s what happened in Minnesota, where a man allegedly ran pay-per-view YouTube channels featuring videos of rodents, birds, dogs, and other animals being crushed, drowned, burned, and mutilated — many of them hidden behind subscription paywalls.

Bryan Wesley Edison, 32, profited from violence. And tech companies hosted it.

Federal law bans “animal crushing” content, but platforms like YouTube currently have no legal obligation to report this content to law enforcement — even when it’s monetized, promoted, and sold.

That must change.

We call on Congress, the Department of Justice, and the Federal Trade Commission to:

Amend federal law to require all tech platforms (including YouTube, TikTok, Meta, Patreon, and others) to immediately report suspected animal torture content to the appropriate authorities.

Require platforms to preserve content and metadata as evidence, just as they do in child exploitation cases.

Impose civil and criminal penalties on platforms that knowingly host, profit from, or ignore egregious animal cruelty content.
 

Animal torture isn’t just unethical — it’s a federal crime. People who film and sell this content often go on to harm other people. And every moment of delay puts more animals — and communities — at risk.

Tech companies already report child abuse imagery. They should have the same duty when it comes to intentional, monetized violence against animals.

Platforms should be places for connection — not cruelty.