When footage of four boys in Jieyang, Guangdong province, beating three puppies with sticks and setting their mother, Wang Wang, on fire surfaced on Chinese social media in late June, the internet did what it does best: got furious. Authorities, however, did what they do best: tried to make the fury go away. Citing the perpetrators' ages - all under 14 - officials scrubbed posts, urged the public not to "disseminate related information," and declared the boys would be sent to a "specialised school" rather than face criminal charges. China lacks laws against animal cruelty, so the legal system had little to offer anyway.

But the censorship only added fuel to the fire - metaphorically speaking, unlike Wang Wang. Posts about the incident continue to draw thousands of comments on Weibo three weeks later, and the outrage has gone global. Billboards featuring Wang Wang's image now appear in New York's Times Square every 35 minutes, with the caption: "She was loved. She wanted to live. She should still be here." Similar displays have popped up near Taipei 101 in Taiwan, on buses in Hong Kong and Macau, and even on a stadium screen during a football match in Dalian.

Celebrities like actor Du Jiang and Taiwanese actress Joe Chen saw their posts advocating for animal protection vanish, though it's unclear if they deleted them or the censors did. Users have turned to advocates abroad, with the International Organisation for Animal Protection in Italy receiving over 100 reports. One Taiwanese woman, CK, spent NT$30,000 ($930) on a billboard and set up Reddit and X accounts to spread the word. Another, Elara, used AI to translate a summary into more than 10 languages.

Inside China, homegrown businesses like beauty brand Amortals and streetwear label Wah Yan Ching Nin have placed anti-abuse ads outside malls. Stickers and car decals featuring Wang Wang are for sale on Taobao. The debate continues, with many demanding laws against animal cruelty - a demand that, for now, remains as unfulfilled as Wang Wang's life.