Hey guys, nice to see you again. Now you’re probably thinking by looking at the title above, that I’m going to cover part 2 about fake animal rescues. Well… for those of you who were hoping for that … I’m not. Though that is coming up, so stay tuned to updates! We’re here to talk about something… else. Something that disgusted me beyond my core and will likely disgust you. Now I’ve covered animal abuse on social media platforms here, before. However, the situation has escalated to levels I have not seen in 2023 or 2022. 2024 is bringing a new wave, now… you probably think you won’t find animal abuse content on YouTube Kids, right? I mean, it has so much moderation for harmful content since kids are on it. That’s what I thought! I thought moderation was effective in YouTube Kids, I had some faith. But my faith has been shattered and I stand corrected! I… don’t have a YouTube Kids account, I just use the normal version. But… well… somebody sent me a horrifying video. And that let me gain a deep understanding of just how bad the situation is. Let me explain to you what I saw.
The video started fairly innocently, there was a series of plastic toy eggs in vibrant colors and there was a pool. But I already had a bad feeling about this, a sense of dread. And I was right to do so. No direct speaking in the video was there. But it got really ugly, real fast. So, the person who’s filming, opens the eggs and inside the egg is a… suffocating goldfish barely dipped in enough water. And there is kids’ music playing, with playful sounds. I was horrified yet could not take my eyes off for some reason. The said person unboxed more of the fish, all of them in the same horrible condition. And I thought I’d seen the worst when they took a particularly large egg… they opened it. Now I’m going to give you guys a minute to guess what was inside:
A. 4 baby ducklings
B: goldfish
C. Neon tetras
D. A baby pigeon.
Well, if you answered A… unfortunately you’re right. Yes… you heard me just fine, 4 real and alive baby ducklings squeezed inside an egg. It was a… miracle they were not dead. They were stressed, suffocating, and just on top of each other. This is… barbarism and it is worse. Somehow… the pool in which they were releasing them had even less water than the water quantity in the plastic eggs! I saw a goldfish’s fin sticking out, it was unable to submerge itself. Moreover, the 4 baby ducklings… bless their hearts, started pecking at the fish. Which stressed the fish and hurt the fish and they were stressed themselves. Neither the fish nor the ducklings had eaten in… who knows how long. Now, what I just told you is hidden animal abuse. And guess what: This is on YouTube Kids and millions of people viewed it. And they’re making money off that, there are ads. Hidden animal abuse is … dangerous because YouTube’s algorithms and AI models typically analyze the content of the video and if it has fun, cute music, vibrant colors, and no seemingly violent content: they approve it! Now, this has … taken over YouTube. Now… YouTube usually knows this… but people watch it, specifically, kids watch it. And that brings YouTube a lot of money, a fat paycheck.
Along with the psychopath, who also makes a ton of money, and… it does not stop there. Millions of other channels are… egregious and I’m truly sad to say that this channel is the least extreme case. Some channels are way worse and take this to an egregious level!
It’s worrying and this is just one of the types of animal abuse. I was pretty pissed off! So, I decided to go to YouTube Shorts to see some cute rabbit videos to calm myself down. I go to a channel and start scrolling through shorts, I see one good channel and click on it. In the video, it shows a rabbit being forced to take a bath… and they’re putting soap on it??!!! And how is this video cute?!?!?!?! Rabbits don’t need baths! And why does this video have so many likes and supportive comments calling it cute!!? The rabbit is stressed and terrified, it could die! This is called: “Cute animal abuse” and it’s … the cruelest thing I have ever seen. This is another type of animal abuse. Content in this genre is typically hard to spot, especially for those who lack knowledge about the proper welfare of said animal. And it’s pretty much impossible for YouTube’s algorithms to detect this! And YouTube also profits from this, there are many ads there. And both the psychopath and YouTube get to suck up money whereas the animals suffer! Here animal suffering is very hard to detect, though I am pretty sure everybody would detect it in the next level.
The next level… is so disgusting, so horrific, so psychopathic that I honestly think these creators who do this are a danger to society and countless other animals. Now, I know everybody can detect it on this level! And some people might already know what kind of abuse I’m talking about when I say the word: “blender”. If you do, I’m… sorry that you had to witness that. Now, for those with strong stomachs: let me give you an example. Let me explain to you in this” blender” context. So, one day I was on my X account and I was just looking through the trending page and I saw: “#CatBlender” trending and I thought it was some funny viral, cat thing. Oh boy, was I wrong, it means what your worst thoughts think? In the simplest terms, I can explain: they put a cat, barely a couple of years old, in a blender and…. turned the blender on. The blood and organs of the cat are scattered all around. There are levels of cruelty… this is… crossing all the levels I can think of. Whoever did this, deserves a life sentence without parole. Pathetic, these people don’t have any monetary benefit, they just are plain sociopathic and want to just make the world more miserable.
Well, guys, if you’re still reading… Thank you. Not many people are willing to confront a lot of gruesome parts of animal abuse! And you’re not one of them, you’re taking the first step to protecting animals by acknowledging this happens. So, thank you again. Now Team YouTube, if you’re reading, this: I quite literally did all the investigative work! And I know you love the money, but … just think about this rationally for a second. There are many other ways you can earn money without literally sponsoring animal abuse! Not to mention, it’s against your guidelines! So, please for the love of god, go to these channels and click the damn “Ban” button!
Now, let’s discuss what you and I can do to make YouTube change this. Most of them are working for monetary benefit, they get attention, views, and a lot more. Here are some of the things you can do:
1: Spread the word, and openly discuss it to put pressure on YouTube.
2: Keep reporting these videos and don’t stop clicking that Report button until YouTube gets some shit done.
3: Educate yourselves especially when it comes to “cute animal abuse content”.
4: This is, in my opinion, the most effective method, hit where it hurts. YouTube loves advertisers. And advertisers seek to promote their products on positive, universally loved videos. You can take advantage of this, reach out to the advertisers, and explain to them how their ads are playing on animal abuse content. This will alarm them and this will put pressure on YouTube and YouTube will ban these channels to keep the advertisers on their platform because it’s good for business.
Now, guys, I hope you enjoyed this, and thank you for reading! I believe together we can shape a kind, compassionate, world where no living being has to suffer in any way!
