August 7, 2013

If the Internet loves anything, it’s cats. And dogs. Just animals in general, really. Pet lovers are so dedicated to their furry companions that sometimes they even go and create Facebook profiles for them or enroll them in their very own social petwork. Not that that’s OK … just that it is a real thing that real people do. 

But sometimes social media’s animal adoration can take a disturbing turn. Some users are taking to Instagram to sell their animals. It’s gotten so bad that the platform is actually being lambasted for allowing this kind of consumer behavior to go on without notice – animal-rights campaign group Animal Aid reportedly called on the Facebook-owned Instagram to ban “careless slave trading” of animals, some of which are even sold for sacrificial killings.

It’s only natural that Instagram is turning into a place people advertise things they’re selling – the hashtag #forsale yields all sorts of results like clothing, shoes, and accessories, very much like the sort of ads you would find at eBay or Craigslist. However, with the sort of freedom that’s afforded to Internet users all over the world, you can almost expect people hoping to pass on ownership of their pets for a profit to become instantly aware of this easy opportunity to make a quick buck,  especially when browsing Instagram for cute #puppy pictures gets so much traction. So is there any way to know whether an Instagram #kittenforsale is OK or not?

Read the whole article here: http://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/instagram-and-puppy-mills/

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