A report by several NGOs on Monday accused Meta of hosting the world’s “largest known illegal wildlife trade market” on its Facebook platform, with conservationists saying the company effectively encourages the trade by allowing users to monetize content.The report follows research by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC), which found more than 20,000 advertisements for more than 260,000 wildlife products on social media platforms between April 2024 and March 2026. Nearly three-quarters of the ads were on Facebook, with researchers describing the platform as “the central public infrastructure through which online wildlife trafficking is being concentrated, discovered and amplified”.The United Nations Environment Program reports that the illegal wildlife trade generates up to $23 billion annually, with approximately one million plant and animal species at risk of extinction. Facebook’s Prohibited Goods and Services policy prohibits trade in endangered species, but enforcement has been described by experts as “sporadic and inadequate”.
Conservationists say Meta’s monetization policies encourage smuggling
Meta declined to answer AFP questions, pointing to its policies that prohibit the sale of endangered species on its platforms. However, protectionists argue that those policies have done little to prevent trade from flourishing.“Even the unedited accounts and groups that we reported on publicly in the report are still alive and active,” said data scientist and ecologist Russell Gray, a co-author of the GI-TOC report. Gray said it appears moderation is primarily in English, while most wildlife trade posts are in other languages.Protectionists say Meta is not only failing to remove infringing content, but may effectively be encouraging it by allowing popular accounts to monetize through advertising revenue and subscription models. Daniel Stiles, an independent wildlife trafficking investigator who co-authored the NGO report released on Monday, said: “The more interactions and engagement they get on their account, the more money they can make”.Researchers found that approximately 84% of animals offered for sale on Facebook are banned from commercial cross-border trade under CITES, more than half of which are endangered or critically endangered species. The total advertised value of the products was found to be more than $66 million.
Despite policies, animals and their body parts are sold openly on various platforms
This trade extends to live animals and wildlife products, including pangolins stripped of scales, rhinoceros horns for traditional medicine, chimpanzees used as pets, and protected birds. Although some of the content is indirect, much of it is explicit – including public Facebook accounts offering dead pangolins and monitor lizards for consumption in Thailand.Meta was one of 11 tech firms, including Google, TikTok and Alibaba, who announced in early June that they would work to eliminate wildlife trafficking on their sites during London’s Climate Action Week. The alliance also includes crypto analytics firms such as TRM Labs and Chainalysis to disrupt financial flows associated with trading.However, META has been a member of the Coalition to End Online Wildlife Trafficking since 2018, and the problem continues to grow. Freeland founder Steve Galster warned that the latest announcement ran the risk of being “more cosmetic”.“Until Meta is forced to free its platforms from the illegal wildlife trade, and proves it is not profiting from it, the online wildlife trade will only get worse,” Galster said.