‘Fake rescues put animals at huge risk’: AFA Report

Fake animal rescue content on social media is putting animals in grave danger, stated a recent report by Asia for Animals (AfA) Social Media Animal Cruelty Coalition (SMACC) that uncovered over 1,000 links to fake rescue content across Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and Twitter/X in just six weeks.

The report ‘Spot the Scam: Unmasking Fake Animal Rescues’ documented the dangerous phenomenon of “fake animal rescue” content on social media. Fake rescue content features animals who have been harmed or placed in dangerous situations specifically so that the content creator can appear to rescue the animal from that situation to generate revenue from “likes” and “shares”, as well as from direct donations from the viewer, the report said.

The report said that these videos are shared across social media, and that platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube are not doing enough to remove them, thus giving offenders essentially a free rein to promote and perpetuate animal cruelty. SMACC, made up of 29 animal protection organizations, calls on these social media companies to take steps in tackling fake rescue content on their platforms.

The report stated that among the videos of cute animals on social media, one will find those showing animals in need of rescue and care and such content may show a heroic human rushing in to rescue a defenceless animals from danger and followed by other social media users commenting and praising the actions of the people involved. Some of these scenarios are genuine and showcase the incredible and vital work of animal protection organizations and individuals around the world, but it is very disturbing that some of these are not real at all, the report said.

“Some rescue content in fact shows staged situations in which animals are intentionally put in danger, specifically so that the content creators can film themselves behaving ‘heroically rescuing the animals’. For fake rescue content, animals are unnecessarily harmed, stressed, or exposed to risks. These videos can look realistic, but unfortunately the animals involved are being exploited and harmed, and are suffering for the sake of social media content”, the report said.

Such videos, the report said, have managed to gather over 572 million views. Given this trend, the report also aims to raise awareness among the public and animal lovers, to ensure they are not exacerbating the problem, by falling for fake rescue content, generating views in the millions for fake rescue content creators.

The Federation of Indian Animals Protection Organisations (FIAPO), a core member organisation representing India in the AfA Coalition, strongly believes that social media platforms have a responsibility in regulating such content.

Bharati Ramachandran, CEO, FIAPO stated, “Fake animal rescues on social media put animals in extremely risky situations to film their ‘rescue.’ They also profit off compassionate people, while undermining the credibility of real rescue work. This is a new form of animal abuse that traumatises, hurts, and can be fatal to animals. As an audience, we must be aware and avoid rewarding such content with either engagement or any form of donation. We urge social media platforms to acknowledge this disturbing practice and implement systems that can swiftly detect and remove such harmful material.”

In addition to severe welfare concerns, SMACC found that endangered species were being used by content creators.

After widespread media coverage about fake rescue content in recent years, some social media companies have implemented policies against such content appearing on their platforms. However, SMACC’s report shows these methods appear to be ineffective in capturing the ever-growing variety of Fake Rescue content that exists on social media. (ANI)

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