Most of the hundreds of \u201cLabGerm\u201d videos posted and reposted to social media in recent weeks start out the same way: A pair of gloved hands appears against a white backdrop as an AI-generated voice narrates and upbeat music plays in the background.<\/p>\n
In the foreground, a fish undergoes a torturous \u201cexperiment.\u201d Some of the videos appear to have been made entirely or at least in part with AI, while others seem to show real animals in distress. None offer any sort of finding or conclusion. The shocking nature of the content appears to be the point.<\/p>\n
These videos, posted by dozens of accounts across TikTok, Instagram and Facebook from Chinese social media, have amassed millions of views and become notorious across the internet, sparking outrage that has only seemed to fuel their spread \u2014 a phenomenon now commonly called \u201crage bait.\u201d The videos \u2014 and even the term \u201cLabGerm\u201d \u2014 have spawned their own small internet niche of reaction videos, discussion, bizarre memes and even merch.<\/p>\n
An NBC News review of dozens of videos found that the content, which showed small animals such as pleco \u201csuckermouth\u201d catfish, leeches, snails, slugs and various insects being physically maimed, appeared to start on the Chinese social media app Douyin, with NBC News uncovering at least 49 accounts spreading pleco fish torture content on the platform.<\/p>\n
TikTok has removed at least three accounts spreading the videos, saying they violate its community guidelines. But a search on the platform still turned up more than 20 imitators as of mid-May. Plenty of videos, many expressing outrage about \u201cLabGerm,\u201d can be found on YouTube and Meta platforms.<\/p>\n
The videos point to the ongoing challenge of policing objectionable content on the internet, where engagement \u2014 good and bad \u2014 remains a dominant force.<\/p>\n \u201cMembers of the public might see this content and be outraged. But we\u2019ve even seen people creating content about the content, which is then, I think, leading people back to the content,\u201d said Nicola O\u2019Brien, the lead coordinator for the Social Media Animal Cruelty Coalition, which was started by the Asia for Animals Coalition to stop animal abuse content on social media.<\/p>\n This new crop of animal abuse videos mirrors what O\u2019Brien said her organization has seen in previous eras of animal torture content, which has involved monkeys, cats and dogs.<\/p>\n But while that content was largely relegated to the dark corners of the internet, pleco fish videos are getting a much wider audience, O\u2019Brien told NBC News.<\/p>\n Disturbing media has a long history on the internet dating back to the early days of web forums and message boards, eventually giving rise to now-notorious websites that offered a mix of material meant to shock and disgust.<\/p>\n That content tended to remain in its own digital spaces until the advent of social media created the incentives and the distribution systems to spread it widely. Those companies in turn began to create and enforce new rules against a wide range of videos including animal abuse.<\/p>\n Moderating modern social media platforms that have ballooned to hundreds of millions and even billions of users has proved challenging, even with the advent of automated systems.<\/p>\n That leaves many videos to fall through the cracks, particularly when they may not be the worst of the worst.<\/p>\n While many companies have become more proactive in finding and removing such videos, the incentives to post them remain \u2014 as do the automated systems that do little to differentiate between interest and outrage.<\/p>\n \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter if someone\u2019s putting a thumb up or a thumb down or they\u2019re writing a negative comment or calling out content. All of that is seen as engagement,\u201d O\u2019Brien said. \u201cSo that\u2019s pushing that content to more viewers. And so inadvertently, these really awful things that are happening to animals are being shared more and more with the public, who are maybe making their own videos calling it out or they\u2019re commenting on the content.\u201d<\/p>\n A TikTok spokesperson said that the platform deleted all the accounts after they were flagged by NBC News. The spokesperson pointed to its community guidelines, which prohibit \u201canimal abuse, cruelty, neglect, trade or any other form of animal exploitation.\u201d<\/p>\n Users can report content that violates TikTok\u2019s policies via the app and a web form, the spokesperson said, adding that the platform also has support resources to learn how to identify and report animal abuse on the app.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for Meta did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n It is not clear who is behind the videos or their spread. It is also unclear why these videos have attracted a following on social media, what the motivations are for posting them, and how exactly they made their way from Douyin and Chinese social media to TikTok and Meta. Douyin has restricted access to mainland China, Macau and Hong Kong, although people from outside China can access it by setting their Apple ID to these regions or via other workarounds. Likewise, access to TikTok and Instagram is restricted in mainland China.<\/p>\n Douyin\u2019s parent company, ByteDance, told NBC News on Wednesday that the platform prohibits the publication of videos that describe or promote \u201canimal abuse or the killing of animals.\u201d As of mid-May, the videos and accounts containing such content that NBC News sent Douyin for review were still up.<\/p>\n In mid-April, before the account got deleted by TikTok, the main LabGerm account posted that it would no longer be posting pleco fish content due to fear of having its account removed.<\/p>\n \u201cThe anthropomorphic pleco memes and related were partly from my banned account,\u201d the deleted account wrote. \u201cThe rest are reposts or made by others and have nothing to do with me. Please do not blame me for any of this.\u201d<\/p>\n The \u201cLabGerm\u201d videos tend to feature the pleco, a relatively unassuming species known among aquarium enthusiasts as a bottom-feeder that can keep tanks clear of algae. Sometimes videos note it\u2019s an invasive species in some regions, which many commenters cite to justify the abuse.<\/p>\n Simply put, it\u2019s not an animal that many people care deeply about.<\/p>\n \u201cUnfortunately, fish are often not recognised by the public \u2014 or by moderation systems \u2014 as sentient animals capable of suffering in the same way as more familiar animals,\u201d O\u2019Brien said via email. \u201cWe think this may be one reason why this content remains available and is not taken down by platforms at the rate we would expect.\u201d<\/p>\n Peter Li, a professor at the University of Houston specializing in animal policy in China, told NBC News that he has been monitoring the pleco abuse videos for several months now.<\/p>\n \u201cWe thought that was something like a temporary vogue, you know, it would be gone,\u201d said Li, who is also a consultant for the animal welfare organization Humane World.<\/p>\n But the videos have had some staying power, he said, in part because people are also using AI to make them.<\/p>\n Under several videos on Douyin and TikTok, some commenters request specific \u201cexperiments\u201d on pleco fish or other creatures, often referring to the animals as \u201cvolunteers.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf they can find the real thing, they will do it,\u201d Li said of video creators. \u201cIf they don\u2019t find the real thing, they would mix it with AI-generated images or even videos.\u201d<\/p>\n Li noted that China lacks a nationwide law against animal cruelty, making it difficult to prosecute those who post animal torture content.<\/p>\n And while some companies have taken action \u2014 Li himself has reported videos and accounts to Douyin \u2014 the pipeline of fish torture videos remains.<\/p>\n \u201cThe fish that feasts on the waste of other fish is considered a lower rank on the fish scale, so it\u2019s least likely to evoke sympathy,\u201d Li said. \u201cIf these creatures should evoke sympathy like dogs and cats, they would probably not do it, right?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"music](\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-05\/260518-fish-torture-vl-1001a-703cf0.jpg\" "\\"music\\"")
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