Appreciate the investigation David, and reporting it both to us and Meta, but please look after yourself. You are the kind and animal-loving human on the receiving end of this torrent of abuse, and it must take its toll. Take a break from it if you can.
Yeah, not the best time. I tried not to dwell on it once I got the general gist; I have software to capture entire pages, so let that churn in the background so I had it on file (when it comes to filing reports with Meta, or law enforcement). This stuff has been happening for awhile, but increasingly in a very public way.
-13% of the content features deliberate psychological torture: macaques were intentionally made to feel fear and distress in response to scaring, teasing and being denied food
-12% showed macaques being physically tortured, including being beaten, burnt alive, limbs amputated and many of them tortured until death
- 60% of the links showed pet macaques being directly physically abused
-All macaques featured were likely to experience psychological distress due to their treatment.
-Collectively, the links had been viewed 12,054,378,907 times at the time of analysis
-Top three platforms with the most content featuring macaques as pets were Facebook (60%), YouTube (24%), and TikTok (13%).
Holy hell David, those stats are horrendous. These people seem to have tapped into the absolute idiocy of social media and used it for the worst possible purpose. My fear was that someone with your tenacity could track these assholes down, and we'd have to watch you going down a real Organhole again.
Hopefully they cannot ignore your report the way they've ignored countless reports of mine. Thank you so much for doing the mahi - it might take someone like you to get them taken down for good!
I had to skim a lot of the paragraphs that even vaguely explained the images. I knew what it would do to my nervous system (let alone my head and heart) if I let it in. I agree with you 100% Graham, hoping that David is able to process this in some way and look after his own head and heart too.
Things you can't really unsee. It's all made worse when I realised the reason these monkeys are used (besides being manageable) is that they resemble human infants. So yeah, you can see where the target audience's heads are at. Humans beings (some, not all) ughhhh.
Oof. Monday morning went from excitement that a new webworm landed, one of two exceptions to the ban on scrolling in bed. The warning led me to close the phone and watch the samoyed sprawled on his bed smiling in his sleep. Maybe one more paragraph I told myself. If David can write it the least I can do is read it. A few more paragraphs in the phone closed for good and the Samoyed and I wandered down to the beach pausing to greet the cows and sheep along the way.
David thank you for investigating this and please go find a cat cafe in LA to bring some calmness and goodness back to your soul. I couldn't even read the whole newsletter god knows how you managed to watch the videos and write about them. Thanks for trying to make the internet a safer place for humans and animals.
Alison, this comment made me smile. I have a lot of love for ridiculous Samoyed (an ex had one and boy I loved that thing) and I have taken your advice onboard. Much aroha your way.
Same! Webworm anticipation excitement then OOOF! 🤷 Fortunately, I started reading via the e-mail instead of the website, and none of the pictures or videos come through, and I decided that the description was sufficient for me to get the horror as I have a visual mind. Lucky you have a Samoyed for therapy 🫂
He really is the best therapy! Gets me out of the house on even the windiest and wettest of days. And he absolutely loves it when I have a sticky problem that can only be untangled by a two hour stroll through the woods.
I remember a series of videos by Nick Crowley about that exact kind of stuff. He had investigated several YouTube channel entirely dedicated to "rescue videos", and showed that the animals were PURPOSEFULLY put in these situations, and that they often were used several times. Until they passed away, presumably. And not just monkeys -- rodents, cats, dogs as well. I remember one with a puppy.
That leads to a whole rabbit hole of animal torture videos. Genuinely distressing stuff. I really recommend Nick Crowley's series, if anyone wants to learn more about this.
Yes! Anne Reardon from Hot to cook that (YouTube) did a video on how people are harming tortoises by gluing shit to their shells so they can remove it on camera. Apparently the algorithm loves a "rescue" video, real or faked. But tortoises shells are incredibly sensitive and have feeling, not a victimless crime and all for what? Ad revenue?
"Social media content creators know that animal rescue content has the potential to be extremely popular. With increased popularity, viral content can generate substantial financial benefits for the content creators as well as the platforms themselves. Savvy content creators have accordingly seized the opportunity for potential profit by creating fake rescue videos designed to lure traffic to their accounts. Falsely positive and heartwarming narratives of animals being heroically saved from dire circumstances attract social media users who believe they are watching or supporting real rescue efforts."
"While fake rescue videos involve the animals being released from dangerous situations, there is a related theme which SMACC refers to as “fake outrage” in which content creators - who again, have most likely put these animals in these situations - share the content claiming shock or outrage at the suffering of the animal, when they are actually responsible for it."
@lalalaletmeexplain on Instagram has recently done a deep dive on Adam Whittington, a self proclaimed "child rescue"er. He writes horrific descriptions of what has supposedly happened to these children, far more graphic than any real child safety practitioner. He warns about internet predators and then writes content that would appeal to them. Unfortunately, he has hoodwinked several UK celebs into thinking he's genuine and they had been raising money for his "Project Rescue Children". They've only just come to say they're not affiliated with him and, predictably he's changed his charity's name and now has said he's adopting a child from somewhere in Africa. A major grifter and potentially something worse than that.
Unfortunately social media majorly feeds into this kind of behaviour.
I always think about Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake series seeing shit like this and how the collapse of society isn’t likely to be some horrible dictatorship but just a slow descent as humans become more and more fucked up and divorced from reality because of the things we monetise
The horrors of the internet and social media. When Facebook was created years ago, no one expected that we would be having a discussion of how animal torture is prevalent. If there is a way to corrupt something with the rancor and evil in a humans heart, that evil will find a way.
I’ll be honest. I couldn’t read through this though I tried. It’s like when they kill animals in movies, I just can’t watch. Being a horror fan, it reminded me of that movie Cannibal Holocaust where they killed live animals or Faces Of Death when they showed videos of animals being tortured and killed. Yet it went unpunished. Who would do such horrible things in the name of entertainment?
Please let us know what Meta tells you. I honestly feel like it will be swept under the rug with some blanket legal statement and the videos and accounts banned, but I’m still curious. The bigger issue to me here is why things like this can happen on a platform that can have you banned for saying disinformation about COVID. You can get banned for saying Sandy Hook was fake, but you folks at Meta can’t find trash like this and do anything about it? You have all this access to the best technology and AI around, yet, you allow this to go on? That’s the shame in it.
I will never return to FB because of this. I’ve been off the grid for a while on FB, but never again. It won’t change things, but it means that I won’t see shit like this. People can be truly horrific. I’m glad you sent that out to them. Glad someone saw it. This can’t be allowed to be normal.
You’re right about the bigger can of worms. It’s so insane what goes on in our world.
Also, I might disappear for a bit as I wait for my new card to come in the mail- I lost my debit card so I’m waiting for a new one- but I’ll be back as soon as it gets in. I curious to see how this one plays out.
I could not look at the images because they would have done me in. Faint hope that Meta will respond appropriately, and have they ever? Human beings suck. 😭
After read off Spinoff’s headline that Act support is growing according to Taxpayer union polls, I could barely stomach this research. Thank you for going there and reporting back to Meta. A huge piece of work.
Please could you dig deep into TPU and expose their polling. Why does mainstream media blindly report such propaganda!
Agree about The Spinoff - I left a comment with others telling them I don't pay them a sub for elevating ACT/Seymour & dubious polls - one of the few outlets I thought I could trust 🤬
I'll admit, I could not finish reading this piece because it upset me too much. However, David, I want to thank you for bringing this issue to the attention of all of us. I hate to think about what you had fo see in order to write this piece.
Just another “problem” in Facebook’s long list of problems - sex trafficking, child pornography, hate speech, illegal drug sales and on and on and on. This will all continue until Section 230 is changed. Which it won’t be because Facebook spends millions, maybe billions on lobbying to make sure Section 230 continues to give them immunity. It’s depressing...
That’s just fucked. What is Facebook even for now? It’s not like you get to actually see anything from your friends anymore. I go on to check a single unschooling group once a month, and I’d much prefer to engage with it elsewhere. Actually I’m going to find an alternative and get rid of Facebook now. My kids are animal obsessed and would likely come across this stuff if they got anywhere near that algorithm. Luckily I don’t see any likelihood of them ever being on Facebook and I hope it continues to devolve into nothing but a weird ghost town of bots all vying for worthless interaction with each other until it’s shut down for haemorrhaging money and the obscene amount energy needed to create those creepy wee AI fuckers.
Thanks C B. I have had a few organisations that deal with this stuff get in touch, so hope to followup in a meaningful way (hopefully about changes, as opposed to just outlining horrible things).
Appreciate the investigation David, and reporting it both to us and Meta, but please look after yourself. You are the kind and animal-loving human on the receiving end of this torrent of abuse, and it must take its toll. Take a break from it if you can.
Yeah, not the best time. I tried not to dwell on it once I got the general gist; I have software to capture entire pages, so let that churn in the background so I had it on file (when it comes to filing reports with Meta, or law enforcement). This stuff has been happening for awhile, but increasingly in a very public way.
Here are some stats from worldanimalprotection.org.au which are pretty sobering:
-13% of the content features deliberate psychological torture: macaques were intentionally made to feel fear and distress in response to scaring, teasing and being denied food
-12% showed macaques being physically tortured, including being beaten, burnt alive, limbs amputated and many of them tortured until death
- 60% of the links showed pet macaques being directly physically abused
-All macaques featured were likely to experience psychological distress due to their treatment.
-Collectively, the links had been viewed 12,054,378,907 times at the time of analysis
-Top three platforms with the most content featuring macaques as pets were Facebook (60%), YouTube (24%), and TikTok (13%).
This planet, eh? Well, more the humans on it....
Holy hell David, those stats are horrendous. These people seem to have tapped into the absolute idiocy of social media and used it for the worst possible purpose. My fear was that someone with your tenacity could track these assholes down, and we'd have to watch you going down a real Organhole again.
Hopefully they cannot ignore your report the way they've ignored countless reports of mine. Thank you so much for doing the mahi - it might take someone like you to get them taken down for good!
I had to skim a lot of the paragraphs that even vaguely explained the images. I knew what it would do to my nervous system (let alone my head and heart) if I let it in. I agree with you 100% Graham, hoping that David is able to process this in some way and look after his own head and heart too.
Things you can't really unsee. It's all made worse when I realised the reason these monkeys are used (besides being manageable) is that they resemble human infants. So yeah, you can see where the target audience's heads are at. Humans beings (some, not all) ughhhh.
Can’t imagine how horrifying this had to be for David
Thanks, Marcie. Just tried to get a general gist then keep on moving in the research. And taking lots of long walks over the weekend.
Oh, what a weird weekend. Ugh.
Thank you though!
And sadly the reporting will do nothing.
Oof. Monday morning went from excitement that a new webworm landed, one of two exceptions to the ban on scrolling in bed. The warning led me to close the phone and watch the samoyed sprawled on his bed smiling in his sleep. Maybe one more paragraph I told myself. If David can write it the least I can do is read it. A few more paragraphs in the phone closed for good and the Samoyed and I wandered down to the beach pausing to greet the cows and sheep along the way.
David thank you for investigating this and please go find a cat cafe in LA to bring some calmness and goodness back to your soul. I couldn't even read the whole newsletter god knows how you managed to watch the videos and write about them. Thanks for trying to make the internet a safer place for humans and animals.
Alison, this comment made me smile. I have a lot of love for ridiculous Samoyed (an ex had one and boy I loved that thing) and I have taken your advice onboard. Much aroha your way.
Same! Webworm anticipation excitement then OOOF! 🤷 Fortunately, I started reading via the e-mail instead of the website, and none of the pictures or videos come through, and I decided that the description was sufficient for me to get the horror as I have a visual mind. Lucky you have a Samoyed for therapy 🫂
He really is the best therapy! Gets me out of the house on even the windiest and wettest of days. And he absolutely loves it when I have a sticky problem that can only be untangled by a two hour stroll through the woods.
I remember a series of videos by Nick Crowley about that exact kind of stuff. He had investigated several YouTube channel entirely dedicated to "rescue videos", and showed that the animals were PURPOSEFULLY put in these situations, and that they often were used several times. Until they passed away, presumably. And not just monkeys -- rodents, cats, dogs as well. I remember one with a puppy.
That leads to a whole rabbit hole of animal torture videos. Genuinely distressing stuff. I really recommend Nick Crowley's series, if anyone wants to learn more about this.
Nick's work is pretty amazing. All the trigger warnings needed.
And yes - the rescue video genre is a very big thing. The worst result of a world that rewards views and amount of timing watching a video.
Yes! Anne Reardon from Hot to cook that (YouTube) did a video on how people are harming tortoises by gluing shit to their shells so they can remove it on camera. Apparently the algorithm loves a "rescue" video, real or faked. But tortoises shells are incredibly sensitive and have feeling, not a victimless crime and all for what? Ad revenue?
Yep - for eyeballs and ad revenue.
This report is pretty incredible - but a very, very hard read: https://www.smaccoalition.com/macaque-report
"Social media content creators know that animal rescue content has the potential to be extremely popular. With increased popularity, viral content can generate substantial financial benefits for the content creators as well as the platforms themselves. Savvy content creators have accordingly seized the opportunity for potential profit by creating fake rescue videos designed to lure traffic to their accounts. Falsely positive and heartwarming narratives of animals being heroically saved from dire circumstances attract social media users who believe they are watching or supporting real rescue efforts."
"While fake rescue videos involve the animals being released from dangerous situations, there is a related theme which SMACC refers to as “fake outrage” in which content creators - who again, have most likely put these animals in these situations - share the content claiming shock or outrage at the suffering of the animal, when they are actually responsible for it."
@lalalaletmeexplain on Instagram has recently done a deep dive on Adam Whittington, a self proclaimed "child rescue"er. He writes horrific descriptions of what has supposedly happened to these children, far more graphic than any real child safety practitioner. He warns about internet predators and then writes content that would appeal to them. Unfortunately, he has hoodwinked several UK celebs into thinking he's genuine and they had been raising money for his "Project Rescue Children". They've only just come to say they're not affiliated with him and, predictably he's changed his charity's name and now has said he's adopting a child from somewhere in Africa. A major grifter and potentially something worse than that.
Unfortunately social media majorly feeds into this kind of behaviour.
It's all so exploitative, from nearly every level.
I always think about Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake series seeing shit like this and how the collapse of society isn’t likely to be some horrible dictatorship but just a slow descent as humans become more and more fucked up and divorced from reality because of the things we monetise
Okay, I need to read this (I think?!)
Great series! Particularly the first book. Possibly blaspheming here, but I liked it way more than the Handmaid’s Tale.
Read with caution. It's taken me years to recover from reading Oryx and Crake. Attwood is a genius, but boy does she do a number on my brain.
I think about that book so often these days.
Me too!
Forgot about that book, which was highly recommended several years ago by a friend. Putting it on the proper list.
Hi David, long time reader, first time commenter (I actually paid a subscription just to leave this comment).
The "baby monkey hate" genre has been a dark rabbit hole that's existed on social media for quite a while.
https://www.reddit.com/r/RBI/comments/b4qu6a/baby_monkey_hate_ring_on_youtube/
The BBC even covered it in an investigation once.
https://www.bbc.com/mediacentre/2023/bbc-eye-investigation-monkey-haters-world-service
Every couple of years it seems to resurface as a new person discovers it and it seems to persist every time.
It seems to be a predominantly international phenomenon but it's genuinely horrible, and it seems that they're now using AI to create this "content".
I just wanted to leave this comment so you're aware that this thing has been going on for years.
Doesn't make it any less awful, but there's so much more than just facebook.
Thanks for the support and thanks for this! I talk about this context and history within the piece, too. The BBC piece is really good.
The horrors of the internet and social media. When Facebook was created years ago, no one expected that we would be having a discussion of how animal torture is prevalent. If there is a way to corrupt something with the rancor and evil in a humans heart, that evil will find a way.
I’ll be honest. I couldn’t read through this though I tried. It’s like when they kill animals in movies, I just can’t watch. Being a horror fan, it reminded me of that movie Cannibal Holocaust where they killed live animals or Faces Of Death when they showed videos of animals being tortured and killed. Yet it went unpunished. Who would do such horrible things in the name of entertainment?
Please let us know what Meta tells you. I honestly feel like it will be swept under the rug with some blanket legal statement and the videos and accounts banned, but I’m still curious. The bigger issue to me here is why things like this can happen on a platform that can have you banned for saying disinformation about COVID. You can get banned for saying Sandy Hook was fake, but you folks at Meta can’t find trash like this and do anything about it? You have all this access to the best technology and AI around, yet, you allow this to go on? That’s the shame in it.
I will never return to FB because of this. I’ve been off the grid for a while on FB, but never again. It won’t change things, but it means that I won’t see shit like this. People can be truly horrific. I’m glad you sent that out to them. Glad someone saw it. This can’t be allowed to be normal.
I get it, for sure.
And will update you on Meta.
Since writing this I have heard from a few people (organisations, and individuals) who track this stuff aggressively and are in direct contact with Meta. Recently, some stuff did get taken down: https://ladyfreethinker.org/dozens-of-monkey-torture-groups-removed-from-facebook-following-report/
So there is hope.
Still - the fact humans are embracing this stuff in the first place opens a much bigger can of worms.
You’re right about the bigger can of worms. It’s so insane what goes on in our world.
Also, I might disappear for a bit as I wait for my new card to come in the mail- I lost my debit card so I’m waiting for a new one- but I’ll be back as soon as it gets in. I curious to see how this one plays out.
The poor fucking monkeys
I could not look at the images because they would have done me in. Faint hope that Meta will respond appropriately, and have they ever? Human beings suck. 😭
There is some hope that Meta, when pressured, responds: https://ladyfreethinker.org/dozens-of-monkey-torture-groups-removed-from-facebook-following-report/
After read off Spinoff’s headline that Act support is growing according to Taxpayer union polls, I could barely stomach this research. Thank you for going there and reporting back to Meta. A huge piece of work.
Please could you dig deep into TPU and expose their polling. Why does mainstream media blindly report such propaganda!
Agree about The Spinoff - I left a comment with others telling them I don't pay them a sub for elevating ACT/Seymour & dubious polls - one of the few outlets I thought I could trust 🤬
Noted.
I'll admit, I could not finish reading this piece because it upset me too much. However, David, I want to thank you for bringing this issue to the attention of all of us. I hate to think about what you had fo see in order to write this piece.
Thanks Riley and I very much appreciate and get your response.
And our kids are on here seeing this with no lens to filter it thru. Scary. And horrifying ppl make money on torture of animals for clickbait.
Just another “problem” in Facebook’s long list of problems - sex trafficking, child pornography, hate speech, illegal drug sales and on and on and on. This will all continue until Section 230 is changed. Which it won’t be because Facebook spends millions, maybe billions on lobbying to make sure Section 230 continues to give them immunity. It’s depressing...
Wow. People, huh? Always finding new ways in which to be vile and fucked up. This is so grim.
When you clock these monkeys are used because they resemble human infants, it gets even worse. Anyway.
IT'S A NICE DAY OUTSIDE TODAY SO GONNA CONCENTRATE ON THAT FOR A BIT!!!
That’s just fucked. What is Facebook even for now? It’s not like you get to actually see anything from your friends anymore. I go on to check a single unschooling group once a month, and I’d much prefer to engage with it elsewhere. Actually I’m going to find an alternative and get rid of Facebook now. My kids are animal obsessed and would likely come across this stuff if they got anywhere near that algorithm. Luckily I don’t see any likelihood of them ever being on Facebook and I hope it continues to devolve into nothing but a weird ghost town of bots all vying for worthless interaction with each other until it’s shut down for haemorrhaging money and the obscene amount energy needed to create those creepy wee AI fuckers.
Great piece of journalism in typical Farrier fashion.
Thanks C B. I have had a few organisations that deal with this stuff get in touch, so hope to followup in a meaningful way (hopefully about changes, as opposed to just outlining horrible things).
I'm heartbroken and horrified. Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I'll definitely be on the lookout. 💔