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In a U.S. federal case, prosecutors said Nicholas T. Dryden paid a minor in Indonesia in 2023 to make monkey-abuse videos, then sold the videos through online groups he administered. The internet made that cross-border chain of requests, payments, recording, and distribution possible without the buyers and video maker being in the same place.
The documented cases show how online groups can facilitate abuse; they do not establish how widespread commissioned monkey-abuse videos are online. It is important to distinguish what a court outcome establishes from what prosecutors alleged and from separate animal-welfare research about public social-media content.
What the documented cases show
The U.S. Department of Justice’s July 21, 2026 announcement says Dryden was sentenced to 108 months in prison and three years of supervised release for creating animal-crush videos and conspiring to create and distribute them. The DOJ said court documents showed that he paid a minor in Indonesia in 2023 to create monkey-abuse videos and sold the resulting videos through online groups he administered.
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Earlier, a May 2025 indictment charged 11 additional defendants and alleged 79 overt acts involving payments to Dryden, who then paid the minor. The DOJ cautioned: “An indictment is merely an allegation.” The indictment is not proof that every alleged act occurred, and the people charged were presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
The sources document a chain involving online group administration, payment, a person overseas making requested videos, and sales to group members. They do not establish a complete count of perpetrators, commissions, videos, transactions, or groups across the wider phenomenon.
The cases involve severe abuse. There is no public-interest reason to reproduce abusive material or provide search terms, usernames, mirrors, or links to communities where it may be found.
Why the internet changed the logistics
In the documented federal case, different roles were separated by thousands of miles, while online groups connected participants.
- Remote commissioning. The DOJ says Dryden paid a minor in Indonesia to make requested videos. Buyers did not need to be physically present where the abuse occurred.
- Online coordination and payment. The case illustrates how online groups and payments could connect a U.S.-based administrator with a person overseas. The evidence cited here concerns this case; it does not show that all private groups or messaging services are used for criminal activity.
- Digital distribution. According to the DOJ, Dryden sold the resulting videos through online groups he administered. The source establishes that distribution chain, not the scale of all copying or archiving related to monkey-abuse material.
- A group of buyers. Group administration provided a channel for selling videos to members. The cited case documents do not establish the size of the wider audience or how common such groups are.
- Cross-border investigation. When people involved and the abuse are in different countries, investigating conduct can involve multiple jurisdictions. The sources summarized here establish the cross-border nature of the Dryden case, but do not provide a full account of every investigative step.
The documented chain helps explain why the title describes commissioning as easy: online groups connected a buyer and an overseas video maker, and videos were sold through those groups. That is evidence about a specific case, not proof that the internet caused participants’ motives or that every online community enables abuse.
Criminal case evidence versus broader online content
Different sources answer different questions. A DOJ sentence announcement reports a court outcome for a defendant. An indictment states allegations that must not be presented as proven facts. Animal-welfare research about public social-media content provides context about that content sample, not a measure of the criminal network.
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The May 2025 DOJ release said the indictment charged 11 additional defendants and alleged 79 overt acts. The reviewed sources do not establish the final disposition of each of those 11 people. Do not treat the number charged as a number convicted.
Separately, International Animal Rescue summarized a Social Media Animal Cruelty Coalition (SMACC) sample that recorded 1,226 links across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube from September 2021 to March 2023. The summary reported 12,054,378,907 combined views—over 12 billion—at the time of analysis.
That sample concerns macaques kept as pets and related social-media content, ranging from apparently innocuous treatment to graphic abuse. It is not a count of commissioned videos, criminal-group members, unique viewers, or the Dryden network. The sources do not show that the sampled content and the federal case involved the same creators, animals, viewers, or groups.
Action for Primates has separately reported online monkey-abuse content and private Telegram groups. Its reporting is not a comprehensive census, and a separate Indonesian conviction it describes should not be conflated with the later U.S. federal prosecution.
What U.S. federal law says
The principal federal law discussed in these prosecutions is 18 U.S.C. § 48, the animal-crush statute. The statute has defined elements, including a definition of an “animal crush video” and requirements involving interstate or foreign commerce. Federal law should not be described as making every depiction of animal abuse categorically illegal.
The legal background includes the Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in United States v. Stevens, which struck down an earlier, broader federal prohibition on depictions of animal cruelty. This article does not attempt to provide legal advice; the statute and case outcomes must be read in their specific legal context.
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What this does—and does not—say about the internet
The documented federal case supports a focused conclusion: online groups and payments helped connect a U.S.-based administrator with a person in Indonesia who made videos, which were then sold through groups.
It would be inaccurate to say that the internet caused the conduct or that the case shows how likely the general public is to commit animal abuse. The federal records concern specific defendants and allegations, while the SMACC sample concerns a separate set of public social-media links. Neither source set is a comprehensive global census.
There is no basis in the cited evidence for diagnosing participants with a psychiatric condition. Criminal conduct can be described without assigning an unsupported clinical explanation.
If you encounter suspected animal-abuse material
Action for Primates recommends reporting abusive content directly to the platform and avoiding watching, liking, commenting on, or sharing it. The organization’s stated rationale is that interaction can add views, distribution, popularity, or profit; that rationale should not be mistaken for a measured estimate of platform-wide effects.
- Stop viewing and leave the page or group. Do not engage with the uploader or request more material.
- Use the platform’s reporting tool. Choose the closest category for animal abuse, exploitation, illegal activity, or graphic violence.
- Contact appropriate authorities in your jurisdiction. If an animal may be in immediate danger, report the location and other non-graphic information through an official channel.
- Do not investigate or confront people yourself. Avoid downloading, saving, forwarding, or reposting material.
Reporting routes differ by country and platform. The safest general principle is to report through official channels without creating or circulating another copy.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Frequently Asked Questions
How did online groups make it possible to commission monkey abuse across borders?
In the Dryden case, the DOJ said he paid a minor in Indonesia to make monkey-abuse videos and sold the resulting videos through online groups he administered. The case shows how online groups and payments connected people in different countries; it does not establish how common this conduct is.
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Who paid for the videos, and who made them?
The DOJ said Dryden paid a minor in Indonesia to create videos in 2023. That is a finding described in the DOJ’s account of the court documents in Dryden’s case, not a complete account of every person or case connected to monkey-abuse material.
What happened to the people charged in the 2025 indictment?
The indictment charged 11 additional defendants and alleged 79 overt acts. The reviewed sources do not establish the final disposition of each person charged, so the number charged should not be presented as a number convicted.
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The available sources do not establish a comprehensive count. A separate SMACC sample, summarized by International Animal Rescue, recorded 1,226 links about macaques kept as pets and related content across four platforms from September 2021 to March 2023, with over 12 billion combined views at the time of analysis. That sample is not a count of criminal commissions or unique viewers.
What should I do if I find suspected animal-abuse content online?
Action for Primates recommends reporting it directly to the platform and not watching, engaging with, or sharing it. Do not download or repost it; contact appropriate authorities if an animal may be in immediate danger.
The Bottom Line
The internet did not create the cruelty. The Dryden case documented how online groups and payments connected a U.S.-based administrator with a person in Indonesia who made monkey-abuse videos, which were then sold through groups. That case is not a measure of how widespread the conduct is online, and allegations against other people must not be confused with proven outcomes.
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