via Zoom meeting

ANIMAL JUSTICE ACADEMY LUNCHTIME LIVE:
Help Get Animal Cruelty Content Off Social Media
with Nicola O'Brien - Social Media Animal Cruelty Coalition (SMACC)

The video SEEMS heart-warming... A drowning baby monkey is rescued just in the nick of time by a kindly human. Except...what if that human threw that monkey in the water in the first place?!

Fake rescues are only one of the many categories of animal cruelty flooding social media and making animal torture a lucrative business.

Nicola O'Brien from Social Media Animal Cruelty Coalition (SMACC) joins us to share what's being done to try to curtail this horrible form of animal abuse, the big challenges in going after social media platforms, and how we, as individuals, can play an important part.

She'll train us in both spotting not-so-obvious animal cruelty content -- whether it be psychological torture, "fake outrage" videos, or promoting wild animals as pets, and take us through the ins and outs of reporting those, and the more blatant torture videos, on the various platforms.

AJAer Colleen Orrick will also drop in to talk about her experiences putting her activism time towards reporting on monkey hatred content and aiding SMACC.

*We invite folks to have their video on during this event to enhance the sense of community, but it’s not mandatory

Please enter your name and email address below to register for this event!

If you aren't already a member of the Animal Justice Academy and would like to sign up to get free access to the course, events, and community, select YES below!

About Nicola O'Brien: 

After 20 years of campaigning and fundraising on a wide range of animal protection issues including zoos, circuses, fishing, wild animal ‘pets’ and more, Nicola O’Brien now leads the Social Media Animal Cruelty Coalition (SMACC) which is a part of Asia for Animals.

Nicola’s work focuses on bringing together animal NGOs and the general public to tackle animal cruelty content online, which has grown significantly in recent years. This includes extensive corporate engagement with social media platforms such as Meta and YouTube alongside public awareness campaigning on how animal advocates can support meaningful change.

Nicola previously worked as interim Director of the UK animal rights NGO Freedom for Animals and now sits on the board of Trustees for the UK-registered small animal rescue charity, Tiny Paws Mcr.