The illegal wildlife trade is one of the biggest threats to biodiversity. Demand for species and wildlife products, like rhino horn, elephant ivory and pangolin scales, have triggered an increase in unsustainable harvesting of species. This causes important population declines, threatening the existence of certain species.
Traditionally, illegal wildlife trade thrived in physical markets. But today it has also moved online. In China, more than half of the trade in elephant ivory items happens on e-commerce platforms. Of this, recent investigations showed that social media platforms are the most popular ways to advertise, source, and trade species and wildlife products.
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