Illegal wildlife trade is booming on social media: the figures are so alarming

São Paulo (Brazil) - Social media has become a hub for the sale of endangered species. Experts say that the platforms need to do more to combat the illegal trade.

A young toucan couple being cared for at CeMaCAS. The animal rights activists repeatedly take in illegally traded animals.
A young toucan couple being cared for at CeMaCAS. The animal rights activists repeatedly take in illegally traded animals.  © CeMaCAS

When the baby parrots arrived on Alice Soares de Oliveira's desk, they had no feathers and could barely open their eyes.

Housed in a dirty cardboard box, the two animals were barely a month old and showed signs of being underfed.

The parrots had been abducted by poachers, perhaps from their mother's nest, until they were put up for sale on social media.

In this case, the two baby animals were lucky: the police became aware of the wildlife trade and took the parrots to CeMaCAS, a wildlife conservation center outside São Paulo, Brazil's largest city.

Richard Scobey, executive director of the species conservation program Traffic, says that advertising on social media often allows sellers to circumvent legislation.

"Companies need to devote far more resources to regulating the illegal trade in wildlife on their platforms," he demands.

These two baby parrots arrived at CeMaCAS in poor condition.
ContentImage.Description   © CeMaCAS

Illegal trade in wild animals: Experts believe social network operators are responsible

The two parrots have since been nursed back to health. Now they are to be returned to the wild.
The two parrots have since been nursed back to health. Now they are to be returned to the wild.  © CeMaCAS

However, it is difficult for social media companies to determine whether such sales ads are illegal, as the laws vary depending on the country and animal species.

In future, a mixture of AI techniques and human analysis could be used to better identify suspicious online advertising.

Simone Haysom, Director of Environmental Crime at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, explains: "Many of the world's most endangered and protected species are now being trafficked online."

While street crime has been significantly reduced, the internet is still a partially lawless space. According to the NGO, 78 percent of the illegal wildlife trade in Brazil and South Africa alone is conducted via social media.

A spokesperson for Meta, which owns Facebook and WhatsApp, told the Guardian: "We do not allow activities related to the buying, selling, raffling, giving away, transferring or trading of endangered and protected species on our services."

However, the company wants to improve its own analysis systems in the future in order to further restrict illegal trade on the individual platforms.