“Report It! Week” Aims to End Online Animal Cruelty
Monday 21 September, 2026 – “Report It! Week” is a collective campaign running from September 21-27, 2026, aimed at raising awareness and putting an end to online animal cruelty. Led by the Social Media Animal Cruelty Coalition (SMACC), this initiative urges people to recognize and report harmful animal content they encounter on the internet.
Online animal cruelty often disguises itself as innocent content, such as comedy, cuteness, or rescue, in order to gain views, shares, and profit. This year’s theme, “REPORT IT! WEEK 2026”, serves as a reminder that our actions online have real consequences for real animals.
SMACC’s message is clear: BE AWARE, DON’T ENGAGE, REPORT IT! The coalition advises viewers to look for signs of fake rescue and report such content directly to the platforms. It is important to refrain from watching, engaging, or sharing this type of content. But how can one recognize it?
International Animal Rescue has developed a four-step guide to help people identify fake animal rescues on social media. This guide is the first step in stamping out online animal cruelty. Fake rescue content often depicts animals in dangerous situations, such as being abandoned on the streets, buried alive, or trapped in objects. These creators often use kittens, puppies, and young monkeys, as they are readily available and easy to handle. Cats were found to be the most featured animal in these videos, followed by primates, dogs, snakes, and turtles.
The content appears to be a genuine rescue, with many creators mimicking the design and content of real animal rescue organizations. Members of the public are being tricked into donating to these fake accounts, while genuine rescue organizations miss out on much-needed support.
Gavin Bruce, CEO of International Animal Rescue, states, “The cruelty for clicks through the setting up of fake rescues is a particularly sickening way to exploit animals for cash. The fact that it plays on the compassion and kindness of an unaware online viewer eager to see the poor animal saved from harm makes it even more vile an act. By raising awareness of how to spot a scam, we hope we can help to identify and remove this type of content.”
To help people identify fake animal rescues on social media, International Animal Rescue has created a four-step guide, which can be found here: [insert link to guide]. Together, we can put an end to online animal cruelty. Join the movement and #ReportIt2EndIt.
