Facebook has been accused of giving a global platform to dogfighting after an investigation found the site is being used by fight organisers and unscrupulous puppy traders.

Lady Freethinker (LFT), the animal rights organisation, says the social media giant is failing to obey its own policies which prohibit violent content and the sale of animals.

In a report called The Deadly Underground World of Dogfighting on Facebook, shared with the Observer, it accuses Facebook of becoming “ground zero” for the discussion of particular dogs and breeders involved in the often deadly trade, with much of the debate taking place on closed forums.

Between December 2018 and February this year an LFT investigator searched Facebook and found groups, pages and profiles promoting dogfighting and the trafficking of animals used for dogfighting. More than 2,000 posts and 150 pages were found. The top five groups had a combined following of more than 160,000 Facebook users.

The investigator reported 26 posts to Facebook for violating their policies. But the company declined to remove all but six, instead suggesting the investigator simply block, unfriend, or unfollow posts that it acknowledged “may still be offensive or distasteful”.

Some posts recorded how many fights the dogs had won. Others sold puppies that had been sired by successful fighters. Numerous photos showed dogs chained up in compounds, teeth bared, faces scarred.

Facebook is failing to protect innocent animals from abuse and possible death Nina Jackel, Lady Freethinker

“This level of violence and exploitation of dogs is appalling,” said LFT founder Nina Jackel. “Facebook is often used as a platform for advocacy to effect positive change, but as our report shows, it is failing to protect innocent animals from abuse and possible death. By not enforcing its own policies against animal cruelty, Facebook is complicit in perpetuating criminal acts against dogs.”

The investigator searched Facebook for commonly used terms associated with dogfighting. They also followed Facebook’s “suggested” groups, which were often found to promote dogfighting activities, and flagged concerns about a number of closed groups that were believed to promote the activity.

Many of the pages and groups use coded terminology that would not immediately suggest the promotion of dogfighting. A dog could be described as a “grand champion” (Gr Ch) with five wins or a “champion” with three wins (Ch). Another common reference was the type of pen the dogs usually fight in, with ones measuring 4ft by 4ft common.

Lady Freethinker, which is based in Los Angeles, has launched an online petition, DefeatDogfighting.org, calling for Facebook to actively seek and remove all content promoting dogfighting, which is illegal in most countries but remains a common underground activity.

Outlawed in the UK since the Cruelty to Animals Act 1835 and a crime in all US states, the activity may now have migrated to social media, animal rights groups fear.

A Facebook spokesman said it was investigating. “Content promoting or depicting staged animal vs animal fights isn’t allowed on Facebook,” he said. “We’re grateful to Lady Freethinker for bringing these posts to our attention and we have contacted them so we can get the information we need to investigate this content.

“If people see something on Facebook they think breaks our community standards, we encourage them to report it using the tools on our platform so our teams can investigate and take action.”