Yet another baby animal has captured the hearts of social media. Punch the monkey, with his stuffed animal ‘mom’, has garnered millions of views and thousands of defenders across Tiktok, X (formerly known as Twitter), and Instagram. 

Clips of him being “beaten up” and running away to his plushie have gone viral. However, some influencers have taken to using artificial intelligence to generate fake videos of Punch being attacked. The algorithms of social media seem more intent on pushing videos of harm rather than the cuteness factor. Punch follows the trend of the internet becoming briefly obsessed with another baby animal for about two weeks. Some might remember Moo Dang the Hippo or Pesto the Penguin from last year. All of them faded out of relevance after selling many zoo tickets, plushies, and leading to an uptick of zoo-goers causing trouble and endangering the animals. 

What many may not know is that Punch was raised by humans, and is currently in the process of learning the complicated social dynamics of primates. Videos of Punch being accepted by his fellow primates are already being uploaded, signalling an end is near as Punch loses what makes him viral. Yet there are already stuffed animals of Punch and his plushie on the TikTok shop for $12.99. 

What makes Punch special is how human the internet seems to view him. With his ‘mom’ plushie he carries around, it’s very easy to anthropomorphize Punch as an underdog being ganged up on. It’s even easier for the algorithms of social media to manipulate those feelings to sell you something or scroll for longer. Punch may not grow into his fame, but the algorithm has already gotten what it needs from him.