Facebook is hosting the biggest criminal wildlife marketplace ever documented

 
 

Somewhere in a forest, a pangolin is going about its life. Somewhere on Facebook, someone is already negotiating its price.

Right now, pangolins, sea turtles, and clouded leopard cubs are being sold on Facebook like second-hand furniture. Facebook is hosting the biggest criminal wildlife marketplace ever documented and its algorithms are making sure more people find the listings.

Facebook is profiting from every ad clicked. Let's ensure its investors know the cost of looking away.

Tell Facebook: protect endangered animals, shut down wildlife trafficking.

 Sign now 

John,

Trafficking of endangered species is BOOMING online. Researchers just revealed that in the last two years there’s been more than a quarter million pangolins, sea turtles, clouded leopards and other wild animals listed for sale, and Facebook hosted 75% of it.

Facebook’s policy prohibits wildlife trafficking on its platform. But instead of enforcing the policy, the company's algorithms actively push users toward more of it.

Picture a pangolin – one of the world's most trafficked mammals – snatched from a forest, stuffed into a container, and listed for sale on Facebook before it dies in transit. Or a clouded leopard cub, torn from its mother, sold to someone who saw it advertised in a Facebook group.

Every click, every scroll, every sale – Facebook is profiting from ignoring it.

But the investors of Meta, Facebook’s parent company, have the power to force change – and right now they're sitting on a liability they haven't priced in. Every lawsuit, every investigation, every story like this one makes it riskier to profit quietly. Together, we can push investors to demand Facebook stop profiting from wildlife trafficking.

Tell Facebook: protect endangered animals, shut down wildlife trafficking.

84% of the animals listed for sale on Facebook are animals so rare and so threatened that international law exists specifically to protect them. More than half are endangered or critically endangered.

Some might argue Meta can't police every corner of its platform, but this isn't a moderation failure. The research leaves no doubt: Facebook's own algorithms actively push users toward more wildlife trafficking content, keeping its profits flowing.

This is Facebook's business model.

We’ll put it plainly: Facebook is actively choosing to allow the biggest criminal wildlife marketplace ever documented to operate on its platform, and is taking a cut of the profits through the engagement it generates.

If we can turn this into a massive outcry to demand Facebook stop profiting from wildlife trafficking – we can make its investors unable to look the other way. We need to make it clear that ignoring this will cost far more than doing the right thing.

Tell Facebook: stop profiting from wildlife trafficking now.

 Sign now 

Thanks for all that you do,
Vanessa and the team at Ekō


 
 

 

 


Ekō is a community of people from around the world committed to curbing the growing power of corporations. We want to buy from, work for and invest in companies that respect the environment, treat their workers well and respect democracy. And we’re not afraid to stand up to them when they don’t.

Please help keep Ekō strong by chipping in $3

This email was sent to [email protected]. | Unsubscribe