So, here's a disturbing thought: there's a whole corner of the internet dedicated to animal suffering. Not just accidental footage, but content deliberately created and shared for clicks and subscribers. It's grim, it's growing, and it's exactly why dozens of international animal protection groups just gathered in Bali.
Indonesia played host to the first-ever global summit aimed squarely at this problem. Think of it as a UN for very good boys and girls (and their human advocates). Organized by the Asia for Animals Coalition (AfA), a network of over 400 animal welfare and conservation groups, the goal was simple: confront an online entertainment industry built on animal pain.
The Alarming Scale of the Problem
Nicola O’Brien, lead coordinator for SMACC (Social Media Animal Cruelty Coalition, formed by AfA in 2020), put it bluntly: this stuff is spreading too fast for anyone — any group, platform, or even government — to tackle alone. The summit was about figuring out how to actually do something.
We're a new kind of news feed.
Regular news is designed to drain you. We're a non-profit built to restore you. Every story we publish is scored for impact, progress, and hope.
Start Your News DetoxBecause the numbers are, frankly, horrifying. A 2021 SMACC report uncovered 5,480 videos of animal cruelty. These weren't niche uploads; they racked up over 5.3 billion views across various platforms. Billion. With a 'B.'
Seventeen channels sharing this content boasted more than 1 million subscribers each. Two of them had over 30 million subscribers. Just let that sink in. Often, the victims are endangered wildlife, because apparently, that's where we are now. It's a stark reminder that while the internet connects us, it also provides platforms for some truly awful stuff. And finally, the world is starting to push back.
