Meta’s platform enables and rewards monkey abusers despite policy violations

This article includes descriptions of cruelty and animal abuse.

We have been alerted to two accounts sharing extreme monkey abuse videos on social media.

The content depicted infant macaques being subjected to horrifying cruelty, including drowning, slapping, and choking. One video, titled 'Baby Learns to Swim' shows a baby macaque being forcibly submerged in water while struggling to stay afloat, at risk of drowning.

These videos, which have gained widespread attention, have accumulated over 100,000 followers, with many viewers expressing disturbing approval through 'thumbs up' and 'laughing face' emojis. Some comments even encourage further violence, with one person suggesting, 'Squeeze it longer and harder until its eyes pop out.'

The escalating abuse and Meta's inaction

Since the end of March 2025, the abusive content has increased significantly, with multiple videos being uploaded each day.

Despite repeated reports, Meta has failed to take meaningful action against the pages in question.

After reporting a video of a macaque struggling to breathe in a bucket of water, Meta responded by claiming they had reviewed the video and deemed it appropriate to remain online.

This decision raises serious concerns about the effectiveness of Meta's content moderation policies.

Meta rewards abusers with Creator Badges

Perhaps most shockingly, one of the abusive accounts in question has been awarded Meta's Creator Badge.

This badge is granted to users who meet Meta's criteria for "quality, originality, and integrity" in their content.

However, the videos uploaded by these accounts, which include violent captions such as "monkey suffocates, hardly breathes," clearly violate Meta's guidelines.

The account in question has a page rating of just 28%, yet it has been promoted and incentivised by Meta's reward system.

This failure to enforce their policies calls into question Meta's commitment to preventing animal cruelty on its platform.

The Creator Badge requires accounts to post at least one short video (Reel) per week to maintain the badge, which, in this case, effectively encourages further abusive content.

By allowing such pages to thrive, Meta appears to be indirectly rewarding the perpetrators of these heinous acts.

A history of Facebook's failure to address monkey abuse

This is not the first time Facebook has been criticised for hosting abusive content related to macaque monkeys.

The Social Media Animal Cruelty Coalition (SMACC) has identified Facebook as one of the worst platforms for animal cruelty, with a 2023 report entitled 'The cruelty you don't see: The suffering of pet macaques for social media content' revealing that the platform hosts the most videos of monkey abuse, with deliberate physical torture being the most common form of cruelty.

In 2024, BBC Three's Eye Investigations documentary 'The Monkey Haters' exposed a ring of monkey abusers who used platforms like Telegram to exchange money and share videos of macaques being tortured. As a result of international efforts, some perpetrators have faced legal consequences.

UK-based Peter Stanley was sentenced to 20 months in prison after pleading guilty to uploading graphic videos of monkey torture to a Facebook group. The investigation continues, with more prosecutions expected.

Call for immediate action and accountability

Meta's own policies clearly prohibit content that shows animal cruelty, yet the platform's enforcement remains inconsistent at best.

Tricia Croasdell, CEO of World Animal Protection, said:

"The videos are vile. It is deeply disturbing that people are creating and engaging with content that clearly depicts animal abuse and cruelty.

"When animals are manipulated or placed in harmful situations for the sake of dramatic social media content, their welfare is severely compromised.

Meta and all social media platforms must take responsibility by shutting down these content creators and sending a clear message that animal cruelty will not be tolerated.

"They must also thoroughly review their content policies to ensure this is stopped and take action to stop animal cruelty content being uploaded in the first place.

"The creators are making this for financial gain - let's cut that income source off. Don't watch, don't engage, report."

Advocacy groups and concerned users are now calling for the immediate removal of the abusive accounts, a thorough review of Facebook's content moderation practices, and full transparency regarding how such harmful content continues to generate profit on the platform.

The situation underscores the urgent need for social media platforms to take a stronger stand against animal cruelty. It is crucial that Meta immediately addresses these failures and holds those responsible accountable.

For more information on the ongoing efforts of the Social Media Animal Cruelty Coalition and how you can help, visit SMACC’s website.