How bizarre fish ‘experiment’ videos from China hijacked the internet’s worst impulses

Among the hundreds of “LabGerm” videos posted and reposted on social media in recent weeks, most begin the same way: A pair of gloved hands appears against a white background while an AI-generated voice narrates and upbeat music plays in the background.

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In the foreground, a fish undergoes a tortuous “experience”. Some videos appear to have been made entirely or at least partially with AI, while others appear to show real animals in distress. None offer any conclusion or conclusion. The shocking nature of the content seems to be the central point.

These videos, posted by dozens of accounts on TikTok, Instagram and Facebook on Chinese social networks, racked up millions of views and became famous on the Internet, sparking outrage that only fueled their spread – a phenomenon now commonly known as “rage bait”. The videos – and even the term “LabGerm” – have spawned their own little Internet niche of reaction videos, discussions, bizarre memes and even merchandise.

An NBC News review of dozens of videos found that the content, which showed small animals such as “sucking mouth” pleco catfish, leeches, snails, slugs and various insects being physically mutilated, appeared to have started on the Chinese social media app Douyin, with NBC News discovering at least 49 accounts spreading content about torturing pleco fish on the platform.

TikTok removed at least three accounts broadcasting the videos, saying they violated its community guidelines. But a search on the platform still revealed more than 20 imitators as of mid-May. Numerous videos, many expressing outrage about “LabGerm,” can be found on YouTube and Meta platforms.

The videos highlight the ongoing challenge of policing objectionable content on the internet, where engagement – ​​good and bad – remains a dominant force.

“Members of the public can see this content and be outraged. But we’ve even seen people creating content about the content, which I think then drives people back to the content,” said Nicola O’Brien, senior coordinator of the Social Media Animal Cruelty Coalition, which was launched by the Asia for Animals Coalition to end animal abuse content on social media.

This new series of animal abuse videos reflects what O’Brien said his organization has seen in previous eras of animal torture content, involving monkeys, cats and dogs.

But while that content has largely been relegated to the dark corners of the Internet, pleco fish videos appeal to a much wider audience, O’Brien told NBC News.

Disturbing media has a long history on the Internet, dating back to the early days of web forums and chat rooms, eventually giving rise to now-notorious websites featuring a mix of content intended to shock and disgust.

This content tended to stay in its own digital spaces until the advent of social media created the incentives and distribution systems needed to disseminate it widely. These companies in turn began creating and enforcing new rules against a wide range of videos, including animal abuse.

Moderating modern social media platforms that now have hundreds of millions or even billions of users has proven difficult, even with the advent of automated systems.

This leaves a lot of videos slipping through the cracks, especially when they might not be the worst of the worst.

Even though many companies have become more proactive in finding and removing these videos, the incentives to post them remain, as do automated systems that don’t really differentiate between interest and outrage.

“It doesn’t matter if someone gives a thumbs up or a thumbs down, whether they write a negative comment or bash content. It’s all considered engagement,” O’Brien said. “It pushes that content to more viewers. And so, inadvertently, these really horrible things that happen to animals are increasingly shared with the public, who are maybe making their own videos to expose it or commenting on the content.”

A TikTok spokesperson said the platform removed all accounts after they were reported by NBC News. The spokesperson highlighted community guidelines, which prohibit “animal abuse, cruelty, neglect, trading or any other form of animal exploitation.”

Users can report content that violates TikTok’s policies through the app and a web form, the spokesperson said, adding that the platform also has support resources for learning how to identify and report animal abuse on the app.

A spokesperson for Meta did not respond to a request for comment.

It is not clear who is behind the videos or their distribution. It is also unclear why these videos attracted an audience on social media, what the motivations are for posting them, and how exactly they moved from Douyin and Chinese social media to TikTok and Meta. Douyin has restricted access to mainland China, Macau, and Hong Kong, although people outside of China can access it by setting their Apple ID to those regions or through other workarounds. Similarly, access to TikTok and Instagram is restricted in mainland China.

Douyin’s parent company, ByteDance, told NBC News on Wednesday that the platform prohibits the posting of videos depicting or promoting “animal abuse or slaughter.” As of mid-May, the videos and accounts containing such content that NBC News had sent to Douyin for review were still online.

In mid-April, before the account was deleted by TikTok, LabGerm’s main account announced that it would no longer post content about pleco fish out of fear of having its account deleted.

“The anthropomorphic and related pleco memes came in part from my banned account,” the deleted account wrote. “The rest is reposted or made by others and has nothing to do with me. Please don’t blame me for any of this.”

“LabGerm” videos tend to feature the pleco, a relatively unassuming species known among aquarium enthusiasts as a bottom feeder that can keep tanks free of algae. Sometimes the videos indicate that it is an invasive species in certain areas, which many commenters cite to justify the abuse.

Simply put, this is not an animal that many people care deeply about.

“Unfortunately, fish are often not recognized by the public – or by moderation systems – as sentient animals, capable of suffering in the same way as more familiar animals,” O’Brien said by email. “We believe this may be one of the reasons why this content remains available and is not removed by platforms at the rate we would expect.”

Peter Li, a professor at the University of Houston who specializes in animal policy in China, told NBC News that he has been monitoring pleco abuse videos for several months now.

“We thought it was something like a temporary fad, you know, it would go away,” said Li, who is also a consultant for the animal welfare organization Humane World.

But videos have had some resistance, he said, in part because people also use AI to make them.

Under several videos on Douyin and TikTok, some commenters request specific “experiments” on pleco fish or other creatures, often referring to the animals as “volunteers.”

“If they can find reality, they will,” Li said of the video creators. “If they don’t find the real object, they will mix it with AI-generated images or even videos.”

Li noted that China does not have a national law against animal cruelty, making it difficult to prosecute those who post content about animal torture.

And while some companies have taken action — Li himself has reported videos and accounts to Douyin — the pipeline of fish torture videos remains.

“The fish that feasts on the waste of other fish is considered a lower rank on the fish scale, so it is the least likely to elicit sympathy,” Li said. “If these creatures were to elicit sympathy like dogs and cats, they probably wouldn’t, right?”