Monkeys, a rhino horn and dead pangolins: Illegal wildlife trafficking rampant across social media platforms

The ghostly white creature curled up on a weighing scale is almost unrecognisable in the Facebook post offering it for sale. Only closer inspection reveals it to be a dead pangolin. The animal, one of the world’s most endangered and trafficked mammals, has been stripped of its scales and is being advertised by a Thai account selling “seasonal wild delicacies”. The post is one of dozens reviewed by AFP that illustrate what conservationists call rampant illegal wildlife trafficking across social media platforms, particularly those belonging to Facebook parent company Meta. A report by several NGOs released on Monday accuses Meta of hosting the world’s “largest single known illegal wildlife trade market” and effectively encouraging the trade by sharing advertising revenues with users and allowing them subscription models. The report follows recent research by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime (GI-TOC), which warned Facebook is now “the central public infrastructure through which online wildlife trafficking is being concentrated, discovered and scaled”. Meta declined to respond to questions from AFP, and pointed to policies that restrict the sale of endangered species on its platforms. But conservationists say those policies have done little to prevent Meta’s platforms being used for the illegal wildlife trade. The GI-TOC research found over 20,000 adverts for more than 260,000 wildlife products on social media platforms between April 2024 and March 2026. Nearly three-quarters were on Facebook, and many remained up even after being reported, said Russell Gray, a data scientist and ecologist who co-authored GI-TOC’s April report. “Even the unredacted accounts and groups we reported on publicly in the report are still live and active,” he told AFP. ‘Mindboggling’ Conservationists and wildlife experts said that was common. “I have not once received a response or seen any action taken,” said Tom Taylor, chief operating officer of Wildlife Friends F