Two Clicks Away: Wildlife Sales on Facebook
In March 2018, Facebook joined the Coalition to End Wildlife Trafficking Online, pledging alongside 30 other major tech firms to remove 80% of wildlife trafficking content from their platforms by 2020.
Two years later, ACCO conducted a study that found Facebook failed to keep its promise. In just two mouse clicks, our researchers could locate substantial wildlife trafficking content. Mimicking the search process an average Facebook user might employ when looking to buy illegal wildlife products, such as ivory or exotic pets, we found that traffickers are easily and openly operating on the platform.
ACCO’s researchers have concluded that wildlife trafficking content for multiple endangered species appears to have increased since 2018, and that Facebook’s rules banning wildlife sales are sporadically enforced.
