Why Facebook needs to stop feeding us animal-cruelty videos

Like unwelcome guests, they appear suddenly and unannounced. One minute I’m scrolling down my Facebook feed and viewing some seemingly random video of cute bunnies hopping around, the next I’m watching them shrieking, being clubbed to death and skinned. There are others: puppies, kittens, elephants, sharks, monkeys, chickens, rhinos … all being (mal)treated in one way or another. It makes me want to flush my mobile phone down the toilet.

These videos are, ironically, not made by deprived sickos who enjoy torturing Bambis but by militant animal rights activists who want us to see “what farms/cosmetic companies/fast-food chains don’t want you to see”. Sure, I am all for public education and raising awareness to stop animal cruelty, but there are other ways activists can get their message across without shoving their doctrine, along with the blood and gore, down our social-media-feed throats.

As an animal-lover (my family adopts its pets from rescue homes) I know what animal cruelty is. But I have the right to choose what I watch. I know that on some social-media platforms users can block certain types of content from their feed but I have yet to master control over what I see on Facebook – its algorithms are constantly changing.