Facebook declares they will remove content about animal cruelty but is this a good idea?

On the Mirror.co.uk website they quote Facebook, “Content about animal cruelty is against our terms and will be removed once reported to us.” Is that enough and when should they be removed? They don’t appear to be sticking to their word. Such content is still being posted.

Jamie Card, cat puncher
Jamie Card, cat puncher. Note: he or she is holding the cat in a way which, in itself, is abusive.

The general mood is that it is abhorrent to allow nasty characters to post pictures of animal abuse on Facebook. In some cases it is not actual animal abuse but indications that the person who posts the pictures is engaged in animal abuse. This is called ‘dark humor‘. It is evidence of possible criminal behavior. There is no humor in it unless you’re a sicko like Jamie Card, who appears to a be a mid-twenties Brit living in London, UK and perhaps working at Battersea Dogs & Cats Home (unlikely).

Card is becoming infamous. He (she? – see Michele S’s comment below) is a type of internet troll in some respects. He wants to provoke and be hated by decent-minded people. He likes to taunt pet-lovers. Perhaps he hates himself – low self-esteem. People with low self-esteem feel they deserve to be hated and therefore engineer situations in which they can be hated. Then their life is in balance.

The pictures I have seen posted by him provocatively indicate cat abuse but he’d argue, if he was arrested by coppers, that he is having harmless fun. In one picture there are 10 dead cats. Were they killed by him or by an animal shelter? The RSPCA says: “One photo was him holding 10 or so dead cats and another was a bin with dead cats in it….” This is the sort of thing we see at cat shelters where cats are euthanised.

The point I am getting to is that he feels compelled to advertise his objectionable behavior on Facebook. Isn’t this a good thing from one perspective? We can eventually identify him and check him out on the ground to see if he really is abusing cats.

Without posting on Facebook it could be argued that his animal abuse, should it really be happening, would be under the radar. It would be ‘dark’, invisible.

Perhaps the better compromise is for Facebook to assist in tracking him down (I am sure they can do it) and then once he has been identified and confronted on the ground (meaning not on the internet) and the matter dealt with by the relevant authorities, then his content on Facebook could be removed.

Posting so called ‘dark humor’ animal abuse on FB helps provide evidence against an abuser. To delete it removes evidence and presents a barrier to a potential criminal conviction.

Adrian, on the Change.org petition website under a petition to ensure that Facebook sticks to their promise to remove animal abuse pages, makes a nice point: Facebook only care whether visitors to their site will be upset by animal abuse pictures. They are less concerned about the animal abuse and stopping it.

The internet is the wild west. It is time for some regulation which will be resisted by Google and Facebook and the other major websites. They want total freedom and control because they can make more money. Facebook should be regulated to a certain extent and one regulation would place an obligation on them to assist the police in apprehending animal abusers.

11 thoughts on “Facebook declares they will remove content about animal cruelty but is this a good idea?”

  1. The author of the best comment will receive an Amazon gift of their choice at Christmas! Please comment as they can add to the article and pass on your valuable experience.
  2. People need not only to be upset by pictures of animal abuse on face book, they need to do something about it. The ‘Oh I can’t look, it’s too upsetting’ brigade allow animal abusers to keep on doing it.
    Turning away doesn’t help at all, they must spread the word until the abuser is identified, even if contacts complain about the gruesome posts on our timelines.
    Just like declawing, keeping the truth hidden has allowed it to go on for decades, it needed exposing and it still needs exposing even more until it is banned.

    Reply
  3. This is a very interesting article that is clearly designed to promote thought! I never gave any thought to using these individuals’ posts to catch and keep them. Thanks! I will definitely share this on Facebook so others can benefit from this information too.

    Once they catch the guilty pee-poles, they should treat them the same way. I know many who will volunteer to give up time to punch a restrained, animal-abusing pee-pole in the face repeatedly.

    Reply
    • To me it appears to be a woman in that photo with the young cat. Can we even be sure the photo was taken on the date suggested?

      Whether “Jamie Card” is genuinely abusing cats or simply enjoying pretending to do so in order to wind people up, it sounds like he has mental health issues.

      Reply
      • As usual you make a damn good observation, Michele. I should have spotted that myself. There is a lack of hair in the hands. The clothes look feminine but I don’t see a bust. The handwriting is rather primitive. Perhaps he/she has deliberately disguised him/herself.

        Of course ‘Jamie’ is also a female name. I think she is female. I might do a short post on that.

        I think the mental problem is similar to that of trolls. They want to provoke. It gives then a kick. It also makes them infamous. The old 15 minutes of fame motivation.

        I made a slight amendment to the article based on what you have written. I had to 😉 .

        Reply
        • The top isn’t open quite low enough to see cleavage, but the subtle shading in skin tone suggests a contour 😉 As you say the hands do look feminine.

          Do we even know for sure if it’s only one troll posting as Jamie, or could there be a group of people, each of them targetting different sites but using the same name?

          Reply
          • Yes, the skin looks female too. Probably flat-chested female. Quite a solid female type I’d suggest. If that isn’t be rude. The shirt is definitely female. Everyone presumes she is a he, if she is a she! As you say we don’t know if the name is generic with other trolls using it.

            Reply

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