The RSPCA has released shocking new figures which show reports of animal cruelty on social media have risen by 27 per cent so far this year.

From January to May 2025, the charity saw 133 reports compared to 104 from the same period last year.

The charity has also received 2,600 reports of cruelty on social media over the last six years and there was an 8 per cent increase in cruelty reports from 2023 to 2024 with 25 reports of animal cruelty made to the charity every month last year.

Facebook had the most cruelty of any platform with 1,526 reports followed by Instagram (499) and TikTok (221).

This comes as the Online Safety Act 2023 aims to crackdown on social media content glorifying animal abuse for likes and shares - and to protect children and adults from viewing harmful content.

The RSPCA has released the startling new statistics as part of its Summer Cruelty Campaign to show the side of this season which many people don’t see.

David Bowles, head of public affairs at the RSPCA, said: “It’s incredibly worrying to see that reports made to us about cruelty on social media have been increasing and this highlights the progress that social media companies need to make to become compliant with the new law which makes it an offence to post content showing animal cruelty online.“We’re very concerned that the use of social media has changed the landscape of abuse with videos of animal cruelty being shared for likes and kudos with this sort of content normalising - and even making light of - animal cruelty. What’s even more worrying is the level of cruelty that can be seen in these videos, particularly as so many young people are being exposed to graphic footage of animals being beaten or killed which they otherwise would never have seen.”