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Demand That TikTok Immediately Ban All Animal Cruelty Videos

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Sponsor: The Animal Rescue Site

Hurting or harassing an animal is not cool or funny; it is animal abuse and should be banned on all social media.

Demand That TikTok Immediately Ban All Animal Cruelty Videos

Tell the CEO and founder of TikTok to remove all videos that promote animal abuse, and to ban the users that uploaded them. Animal abuse is not entertainment!

In February of 2020, Sun Online uncovered disturbing TikTok videos of users hitting animals in the head, slapping them, and tying their ears together with rubber bands, all for likes and followers.1

TikTok is a video sharing app which has over 500 million active users, most under the age of 25. They are young and impressionable, and they need to understand that animal cruelty will not be tolerated.

A video showing an owner repeatedly slapping their dog on the back to the children’s tune, “If You’re Happy and You Know It,” was liked by over three million users. The dog was clearly distressed and attempted to bite the owner to make them stop.

PETA spokesperson and director Elisa Allen responded to the videos by explaining, “they normalize treating animals disrespectfully, even physically abusing them, and there’s a risk of ‘copycat’ behavior by people who are desperate for publicity and attention - even the negative kind.”2

Although a TikTok spokesperson stated that “we have investigated every individual case that has been raised and removed all content that violates our Community Guidelines,”1 it took Sun Online conducting their own investigation, uncovering and publicizing these animal abuse videos, before TikTok removed them.

TikTok’s Community Guidelines state that animal cruelty videos are not to be posted and will be removed and the user will be suspended or banned. However, the current monitoring system is not catching them.3

Demand immediate action by TikTok to stop promoting animal cruelty. Sign now!

More About This Issue:

  1. "How TikTok has become a hotbed of animal cruelty as thugs PUNCH helpless dogs and force tight bands around pets’ ears,"  S. J. Evans, The Sun; February 27, 2020
  2. "TikTok Has a Lot of Animal Cruelty and It Needs to Stop!"  E. Erskine, One Green Planet; March 4, 2020 
  3. "Community Guidelines," TikTok, Retrieved March 13, 2020

The Petition

To: the CEO of TikTok:

Please immediately remove all videos on TikTok that promote animal abuse. Animals are not objects to be used to gain popularity or likes. We need to show the world, and particularly your young users, that animal cruelty will not be tolerated by society - even online.

Your Community Guidelines clearly state that animal cruelty videos are not to be posted. This policy needs to be enforced to protect animals and the millions of young users of your platform.

There is nothing to 'like' about a challenge that encourages people to harass or harm an animal. We are sure you agree that animals deserve to be respected and treated as the loving companions they are.

Animal abuse is a felony, and allowing users to post videos that promote and glorify animal cruelty is both inappropriate and harmful. Take a stand for animals and for a better world. Promptly remove all videos depicting animal cruelty, and ban the users who posted them.

Your swift action is appreciated.

Sincerely,

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