Recently, a YouTube video attracted attention again in which live puppies were pushed into a river with a stick and then thrown to a crocodile. There is no question that this is animal cruel content, but the video remained online for over five months , receiving over 250,000 views and 1,200 likes.
A 2021 study by the SMACC (Social Media Animal Cruelty Coalition) speaks of a total of 5,480 animal cruel videos in which 77.5% of the animals were obviously and even intentionally harmed.
Profit from staged videos
Alleged animal rescue videos, in which animals are discovered on camera and rescued from awkward situations, are among the most popular content on social media. Monkeys inexplicably found entangled in a snake, or a litter of puppies found under rubble and completely covered in tar - the list is endless.
“Many people are not aware that the vast majority of these videos are staged and animals are deliberately subjected to torturous things just to generate huge amounts of revenue,” MMag regrets. Dr. Madeleine Petrovic President of the Vienna Animal Protection Association (Tierschutz Austria).
YouTube gets a good 45% of the revenue from each video. It is estimated that from 2,000 videos analyzed, the YouTubers themselves made around $15 million and YouTube around $12 million . Even though YouTube refers to its strict community guidelines, which also prohibit animal cruelty and routinely deletes reported videos, it only takes a few clicks and search terms to find hundreds of such videos on the platform.
“We demand that the companies concerned finally be held responsible for animal welfare. Laws and guidelines that are already in force must be monitored more closely to ensure compliance and stricter sanctions must be imposed if they are violated.”
MMag. Dr. Madeleine Petrovic
In order to emphasize this demand and draw attention to the problem, Tierschutz Austria is now starting a petition .
Necessary measures on social media
“But users of online platforms such as YouTube, Facebook and Co. also have the opportunity to report videos, comments and posts and thus specifically point out animal cruelty if they notice it.”
MMag. Dr. Madeleine Petrovic
Back in June of last year, YouTube announced a ban on staged animal rescue videos. – We reported HERE .
Source: APA OTS
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