Facebook is a thriving marketplace for illegal wildlife trade, allowing “frightening” volumes of trafficking of endangered species, an investigation has found. The platform’s algorithms are actively boosting the spread of content by illegal poachers, so that they are seen by more people, researchers say. Posts of animals for sale included pygmy marmosets, the world’s smallest […]
Tag: Facebook
Unregulated by U.S. at home, Facebook boosts wildlife trafficking abroad
In a matter of seconds, anyone can find evidence of wildlife trafficking on Facebook, according to independent researchers and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) experts. Even using simple search terms returns thousands of posts that offer wildlife and body parts up for sale. Elephant ivory from Thailand, pangolin scales from Vietnam, and sun bears […]
Petition: Facebook Allows the Sale of Pangolins, the Endangered Species Thought to be the Animals Who Transmitted Coronavirus to Humans
Pangolins are highly trafficked animals and therefore are in danger of extinction. All eight species are endangered with their status ranging from vulnerable to critically endangered. Ten thousand pangolins are illegally trafficked each year. The illegal wildlife trade has certainly come back to bite humans where it hurts — pangolins are actually believed by scientists […]