This blog is part of a series of blogs on why reporting matters. You can read part 1 here and part 2 here.
Now, let’s imagine this scenario.
I’m a content creator, and I have noticed that macaque videos are very popular. This has motivated me to acquire a baby macaque as a pet and I’m filming a lot of videos every day and sharing them on my page. Some of these videos are "cute", some of them are more rough because I know there is an audience for all types of videos… After a few weeks, I noticed that numbers were going up: I gained millions of views, thousands of people commented on my videos and reacted to them, which was the perfect incentive for me to keep making such videos. I may even get another monkey eventually. Now that I have so many followers and views, I get paid by the platforms, through advertising. My pet monkey has become my business model. I know I can post a video, and I will get paid for it. When looking at the comments, a lot of people are saying this is cruel and that monkeys are not pets, however I don’t read these comments and I have realized that thanks to them, I can make a living out of making these videos.
It is vital to not give such videos and accounts any visibility.
We understand that when you see such videos, you will want to take action.
This is why we really need you to report such content systematically to the platform directly - remember that 47% of reports get removed eventually. You are making a difference!
We have also put at your disposal our reporting form. It is available on our website at all times. The form takes a few seconds to fill in only: you just need to copy/paste the link of the post, select which animal cruelty theme most corresponds to the post, and submit.
On our end, this is what happens with these links:
Our research volunteers will add more information to your link: which platform it is on, which animals are involved, if there are any other specific abuse, etc.
These links will be escalated to the platforms directly for reviewing.
These links will allow us to build our evidence database and write our reports.
Reporting animal cruelty content to SMACC is not a substitute to reporting to the platforms. You should systematically report cruelty content to the platforms!
So, to help tackle animal cruelty content, please follow our advice:
Do not watch, engage, comment, or share such content and always report it!
Read more about why reporting matters here: Reporting matters | SMACC