Dear John,

Sign the petition now pushing YouTube to block the thousands of animal cruelty videos on its platform and stop making money off them.

Investigations have found thousands of cruel videos on YouTube showing animals abused or maimed for entertainment or suffering pain or death. These horrible videos rack up many millions of views and subscribers while the video publishers and YouTube profit off the ads displayed.¹

YouTube features videos of animal fighting, animal torture for amusement, and hunting using cruel and unusual means. There are also videos of “fake” animal rescues, which show animals, including cats and dogs, placed in contrived “dangerous” situations, such as near predators including snakes and crocodiles, only to be “saved” just in time by a human.²

As the world’s largest online video platform, with billions of users, YouTube has a strong responsibility to ban these videos.

Click to sign this petition now demanding that YouTube take urgent steps to ban these animal cruelty videos and stop the profiting from them.

Sign Now

Individuals and charities have been raising the alarm over this abuse on YouTube for years.³ In June, YouTube issued an explicit ban on videos that include animal rescues that have been “staged” and that place animals in “harmful scenarios”.⁴ However, the number of animal cruelty videos on the platform has continued to balloon.

It’s clear that YouTube needs to take real action to back up its policy changes. Don’t let YouTube turn a blind eye to the suffering and maiming of animals for profit.

Help pressure YouTube to eliminate this cruel content entirely: Add your name to this petition—and then pass it along to your friends.

Thanks for all you do,

– MoveOn

P.S. This petition was created on MoveOn.org, where anyone can start their own online petitions. You can start your own petition to push for progressive change here.

Sources:

1. "YouTube must remove videos of animal cruelty, says charity", The Guardian, December 19, 2020 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/19/youtube-must-remove-videos-of-animal-cruelty-says-charity
2. "On YouTube, you’re never far from a dying kitten”, Wired UK, August 25, 2021 https://www.wired.co.uk/article/youtube-animal-abuse-rescue
3. Ibid.
4. “Violent or graphic content policies”, YouTube, accessed August 31, 2021 https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2802008

PAID FOR BY MOVEON.ORG CIVIC ACTION, https://front.moveon.org/about-moveon-civic-action/. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.