Alarming evidence that TikTok is being used as an open marketplace for endangered wildlife: the videos reached 1,8 miljoen vieuws and thousands of likes and shares

 

A Pangolin 

TikTok fuelling the endangered wild animal trade

A new investigation has uncovered alarming evidence that TikTok is being used as an open marketplace for endangered wildlife, threatening species survival and undermining global conservation efforts.New research has found that traders in Togo, Africa are openly advertising and selling carcasses of wild animals, including the critically threatened pangolin. Despite international protections, this trade is thriving on social media platforms where enforcement is failing.

According to the study, undertaken by Head of Research at World Animal Protection Dr. Angie Elwin among other researchers, TikTok is becoming a hub for the illegal wild animal trade. Researchers reviewed 80 public videos from two accounts, posted between November 2022 and April 2024, which revealed:

• Over 3,500 carcasses of smoked wild animals;
• 27 different species, many of them legally protected;
• More than 130 white-bellied pangolins, an endangered species that is banned from international trade.

The videos reached massive audiences, with nearly 1.8 million views and thousands of likes and shares. One video featuring smoked pangolins alone attracted more than 216,000 views.

Social media is becoming the new marketplace for endangered wildlife. It is easily accessible and massively unregulated, placing a direct threat to species' survival.

Dr Angie Elwin, Head of Research, World Animal Protection

This trade poses risks beyond biodiversity loss:

• Animal welfare: captured animals suffer extreme cruelty, with reports of pangolins being boiled alive or burned.
• Public health: wild meat from pangolins, rodents, mongooses and jackals carries zoonotic diseases.
• Local livelihoods: communities are increasingly reliant on a trade that threatens both sustainability and survival of species.

World Animal Protection is calling for urgent regulation of the online wildlife trade. In order to ensure the survival of endangered species, social media platforms must not become a safe haven for traffickers. 

Illegal wildlife trade

 

Pangolins