Facebook Fuels 75% of Nearly 22,000 Endangered Animals Ads
Facebook accounted for about 75% of nearly 22,000 ads selling endangered animals across 10 countries from April 2024 to March 2026, according to a report on online wildlife trafficking. The posts ranged from live ring-tailed lemurs to spider monkeys and chimpanzees, while more than half of the Facebook ads offered endangered or critically endangered animals.
The analysis covered 266,535 wildlife products posted on 61 online marketplaces, with an estimated value of about $66 million. Wildlife trade researcher Chris Shepherd called Facebook “the largest wildlife market” and “a massive trade hub” for imperiled species.
Facebook’s design
Simone Haysom, director of environmental crime programs at the Swiss-based Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, said, “Wildlife markets have moved from physical locations into online locations, and that’s mirroring broader trends in the global economy.” She helped analyze the data. Russell Gray, a co-author of the report, said, “There’s just anything and everything on Facebook.”
The report said Facebook makes selling wildlife easy because anyone can create an account or a private members-only group without physical verification or vetting. Users can also operate anonymously by using fake names or posting anonymously, which gives traffickers a low-friction way to reach buyers across borders and continents.
Species banned in trade
About 84% of the species offered online were banned from any kind of international commercial trade under CITES. The report said Facebook, Etsy, Amazon and eBay all have policies that prohibit the sale of live animals and their products, yet the posts still appeared across the platforms analyzed.
Shepherd said, “It’s easy, it’s convenient; you can operate anonymously from the comfort of your home. You don’t have the expenses of setting up a shop.” He also said, “It’s great to see another report come out that keeps the online trade, and especially the issues regarding Facebook, in the spotlight.”
Wildlife crime online
The report focused on 10 countries across three continents, places where environmental crime and internet use are high and where traffickers can hide behind screens while profiting from protected species as those animals dwindle in the wild. The findings add scale to a market that the report says continues to grow in species and geography.
The open question now is whether Facebook and the other platforms named in the report can stop the same listings from reappearing in private groups, anonymous accounts and other parts of their networks.
