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How AI is helping keep endangered species offline and in the wild
AI models are now searching for Schreger lines, a defining feature of elephant ivory, to identify authentic elephant ivory products, such as this bangle confiscated by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. © WWF-US/Keith Arnold
As wildlife traffickers continue to exploit the internet to their advantage, technology is building stronger defenses to stop them.
Scaling detection rates and reporting
In 2024, company members of the Coalition to End Wildlife Trafficking Online reported blocking 24.1 million prohibited wildlife listings and suspected illicit sellers since 2018. Closing out 2025, that number has skyrocketed to 63.3 million, thanks in large part to new AI detection efforts by the companies such as Alibaba and Meta. While these increases reflect seven years of collaboration by the Coalition to elevate responses to illegal wildlife trade, the use of AI language-based detection is helping companies identify prohibited content at speed and scale, as well as better understand collected data.
Enhancing image detection technologies
Companies are also exploring the use of photo-based automation to surface violating content. eBay is integrating image detection technology into its toolbox to enforce its wildlife products policy. In 2023, eBay trained its first image detection model focused on a single wildlife product, which proved very successful at proactive detection of restricted content containing that product. Since then, eBay has developed two additional models, targeting different wildlife products. One of the models has resulted in hundreds of listing removals since going live, and another standalone model for an additional product is expected to go live soon. For more information, see eBay’s Transparency Report.
Baidu and IFAW launched the AI Guardian of Endangered Species 2.0, which can identify images of target species and products online to detect illegal wildlife trade. This upgraded version recognizes 34 species, including both wildlife products and live animals, with an average identification accuracy of 86%. The AI Guardian screened 430,000 suspicious images, accurately identified 40,000 images of targeted wildlife products, and facilitated the removal of 15,000 illegal online postings.
Increasing eyes across the web
While AI is advancing Coalition efforts, people power is still needed. The Wildlife Cyber Spotter Program serves as the Coalition's extra eyes across the web, harnessing the passion of conservation supporters to help find what AI misses. Citizen scientists are trained to detect and report protected wildlife sales online, either through volunteer programs or company employee engagement initiatives. For example, each quarter WWF-Singapore conducts training sessions for over 100 volunteers. To date, volunteers have identified tens of thousands of suspicious listings, along with hundreds of new evasion tactics and illicit search terms. This growing dataset is used to train an AI model that enhances reporting accuracy for law enforcement and online companies to take action. Ultimately, the goal is for the AI to become a fully automated system that can independently detect, compile, and report suspicious wildlife content at a scale to help combat this harmful trade.
How you can help
Maybe you’re not a trade, crime, or tech expert, but are a skilled scroller who cares about wildlife. They need you too! If you see a suspicious wildlife listing online, you should report it directly to the platform you’re on, or to the Coalition’s reporting page. Data is power. The more listings of prohibited wildlife content reported to online companies, the more data they have to train and improve their AI models to catch traffickers before transactions happen.
When the Coalition launched in 2018, many company enforcement teams weren’t yet collecting data on actions taken to remove content specifically for protected wildlife as it wasn’t (and in most countries, still isn’t) required by law. Now with AI interventions, spotting tiger stripes and elephant Schreger lines is quicker than the click to purchase one.
About the Coalition
The Coalition to End Wildlife Trafficking Online launched in 2018 with conservation convenors WWF, TRAFFIC, and IFAW. Now with 41 company members comprising more than 50 digital platforms, this collaboration unites the tech industry to standardize prohibited wildlife policies, train staff to detect prohibited wildlife, enhance automated detection filters, and educate and empower users to report suspicious listings. At the core of this effort is sharing learning and best practices to avoid duplication and prevent wildlife traffickers from shifting activities from one platform to the next. The Coalition complements additional approaches, such as those of law enforcement agencies. Get involved at www.endwildlifetraffickingonline.com
Mercado Libre and WWF: together against illegal trade of wild animals
Republished from: Mercado Libre and WWF: together against illegal trade of wild animals | Blog Posts | WWF
The illegal trade of wild animals represents one of the greatest threats to global biodiversity, leading to the decline of species and negatively impacting ecosystems. In Brazil and other Latin American countries, the commercialization of these animals, their products, and derivatives, unfortunately, still persists. Faced with this reality and its commitment to sustainability as a well-known marketplace platform in Latin America, Mercado Libre has intensified its efforts to combat this illegal practice, establishing strategic partnerships, including collaborations with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
Actions and policies aimed at protecting wildlife
In accordance with national and international regulations, Mercado Libre has strict policies that prohibit the offering of flora, fauna, and their derived products on its platform. Here are some examples:
Flora and fauna that are endangered, at risk, or whose sale is prohibited by national or international law. This includes, for example, protected species listed in Appendices I and II of the CITES Convention, such as elephants and jaguars. To see the complete list of CITES-protected species, you can consult the official interactive search engine here.
Live wild animals, such as deer, otters, turtles, and others.
Domestic animals whose breeding and/or sale involves any indication of mistreatment.
Animals for fighting or their accessories.
Products intended for the capture and/or treatment of prohibited species (e.g., hunting traps, cages, terrariums, aquariums, etc.)
Remains or parts of animals not in compliance with current legislation (e.g., carcasses, blood, urine, semen, and others).
Animal heads for display (taxidermy).
Internally, specialized content moderation expert teams actively monitor platform content, using various tools and technologies - including artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning systems - to automatically identify, block, and remove content that violates Mercado Libre's policies.
Mercado Libre also implemented a reporting tool for any user to anonymously flag the existence of any product listing that may be in violation of our content policies, such as our Flora and Fauna policy. Once flagged, these product listings are manually reviewed by Mercado Libre’s expert teams and quickly removed if the infraction is verified.
In continuous collaboration with ONGs and partnerships, such as WWF specialists, Mercado Libre improves its lists of prohibited keywords and trains both its content moderation teams and AI models to recognize content patterns that may indicate illicit animal sales.
Partnerships transforming the digital sector
Protecting the environment has always been a priority in Mercado Libre. This is why Mercado Libre has implemented early on various measures and best practices to combat illicit trade, and associated with relevant external partners and NGOs specialized in this problem to have expert knowledge on this topic.
In 2020, Mercado Libre signed a cooperation agreement with Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), to strengthen the detection of product listings that may be related to protected wildlife species.
Deepening its commitment to this cause, in 2022, Mercado Libre joined the "Coalition To End Wildlife Trafficking Online" (Coalition) alongside other platforms to work together and detect irregular content.
The Coalition collaboration is co-convened by WWF, ifaw, and TRAFFIC and includes training to Mercado Libre teams on identifying threatened species and continuously updating lists of prohibited wildlife products, aligned with CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) and local legislation.
Results and ongoing commitment
In the first half of 2025, Mercado Libre removed more than 80,000 irregular contents related to flora, fauna, and their derived products policy from its platform, preventing significant environmental impacts. Furthermore, Mercado Libre collaborates with local police and environmental authorities, providing information for investigations and seeking criminal accountability for offenders.
Combating the illegal trade of wild animals is a cross-sector challenge that requires collaboration between companies, NGOs, governments, and users. Mercado Libre reaffirms its commitment to biodiversity conservation and its efforts to keep its platform safe. In partnership with WWF, Mercado Libre advances in its role as an agent of social transformation.
If any user of the Mercado Libre platform finds a listing that violates the platform’s policies, such as those regarding flora, fauna, and their derived products policy, they may report the listing by clicking the “report” button located at the bottom of the listing page. The responsible team will review the report and, if the violation is confirmed, Mercado Libre will remove the irregular content.
Coalition Celebrates 5 Years
Just days after World Wildlife Day, with a theme of Partnerships for Wildlife Conservation, the Coalition celebrates its five-year anniversary. Growing from 21 partners in 2018 to 47 today, companies in the Coalition blocked or removed more than 11.6 million listings for prohibited wildlife online from March 2018-September 2021. Hear from our partners at Deine Tierwelt, Huya, Mercado Libre, and Pinterest spotlighting some of their activities. More information about the Coalition’s progress can be viewed in the Winter Spotlight Series, 2021 Progress Update, and 2020 Progress Report.
Huya Celebrates World Tiger Day
To mark Global Tiger Day, TRAFFIC helps Huya integrate wildlife conservation into their live streaming platform
This Global Tiger Day, TRAFFIC’s China Office supported Huya launch a series of public awareness-raising activities for protecting wild tigers. At an event attended by national celebrities and social media influencers, live streaming and physical exhibition helped highlight the need for wild tiger conservation and call on the public to pay more attention to biodiversity conservation and sustainable development.
Huya launched its campaign "Saving Wild Tigers Painting Solicitation" and received hundreds of creative submissions including illustrations, print engravings, and watercolour paintings to help draw attention to issues currently facing tigers. The participants included not only artists but also amateur volunteers, influencers, and their fans on Huya’s live streaming platform, showing the insight and understanding of different groups on wildlife conservation.
On 27th July, together with China Wildlife Conservation Association (CWCA), TRAFFIC, and International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), Huya held an art exhibition for selected works from "Saving Wild Tigers Painting Solicitation" and invited Huya’s famous influencer “Sha Yu Yo” as the ambassador for this art exhibition.
Huya will also launch its "Global Tiger Day Awareness Raising Live Streaming" event, featuring Huya’s famous influencer “Zhang Daxian” and domestic conservationists to spread the word on wild tigers conservation to Huya’s customers.
As a new member of the "Coalition to End Wildlife Trafficking Online" last June, Huya has been exploring innovative approaches through live streaming events.
Huya has been exploring fundraising approaches and conservation awareness-building through its live streaming platform. For example, with the support of CWCA and TRAFFIC, Huya launched a live streaming campaign called “Protecting the King in the Forest” with traditional Chinese craftsmen on last year's Global Tiger Day. At the start of 2022, Huya launched the “Protect Our Home Planet” campaign to collaborate with key nature reserves to launch live streaming series, including Earth Day Live Streaming at Northeast Tiger and Leopard National Park and Giant Panda National Park.
Huya has also organised activities for volunteers, including improving their capability on identifying illegal wildlife trade information online and spreading the word about wildlife conservation, reaching over 100,000 volunteers.
"As a leading game live streaming platform in China, Huya is ready to take advantage of our platform and link forces from different sectors to raise public awareness to protect our biodiversity and contribute to sustainable development. In the future, Huya will continue to gather forces from all parties, encourage more people to participate in wildlife conservation and work together to protect our one shared home. " Zhan Xiaoyan, Vice President of the Public Affairs Department of Huya said.
“Since joining the Coalition, Huya has been working hard to build connections with platforms, influencers, customers, volunteers, and NGOs to help raise awareness of wildlife conservation. We hope that more domestic member companies of the Coalition will join Huya, Tencent, Baidu, Alibaba, and Douyin not only to focus on combatting illegal wildlife trade online but also to harness their platform’s influence to carry out a variety of biodiversity conservation activities and fulfill social responsibility.””
TikTok Shares Update
Helping to Protect wildlife on TikTok and Beyond
Republished from https://www.worldwildlife.org/blogs/sustainability-works/posts/helping-to-protect-wildlife-on-tiktok-and-beyond
Author:
Ayse Koçak, TikTok
At TikTok, our mission is to inspire creativity and bring joy. We're proud that over 1 billion people come to our platform each month in search of entertainment and an outlet to share what matters to them. We know that this would not be possible without our community's trust in our ability to maintain a safe and welcoming environment. We believe that everyone should be able to express themselves creatively and be entertained, but not at the expense of other forms of life.
Last year, TikTok joined the Coalition to End Wildlife Trafficking Online, which was established in 2018 by World Wildlife Fund (WWF), TRAFFIC, and IFAW to bring together e-commerce, search, and social platforms across the world to reduce wildlife trafficking online. Since then, we've worked closely with WWF to enhance our policies, launch in-app safety features and tools, and encourage education around the life forms with which we share a planet. In doing so, we aim to continue our work to prevent harmful content and behavior, including wildlife trafficking, from proliferating on the platform.
Protecting against harmful content
At the heart of how we work to promote safety on TikTok are our Community Guidelines, which serve as our code of conduct, illuminating our vision for the platform through detailing the types of behavior and content we do not permit. Our guidelines expressly prohibit content that depicts or promotes the poaching or illegal trade of wildlife, and we offer a dedicated reporting category within the app for our community to flag this type of content to us. Further, our Advertising Policies do not allow the advertising of products derived from endangered, vulnerable or threatened animals or the sale of animals themselves.
Using the policies as a guide, our global safety team then works to enforce them. I'm proud to be part of the team tasked with keeping TikTok free from this type of violative content. My team is made up of experts from diverse backgrounds—spanning product, policy, compliance, and NGOs—all of whom are dedicated to achieving the highest standard of safety. We're grateful to get the opportunity to work with the Coalition and WWF, which help us strengthen our policies and improve our methods for enforcement and content removals. Under our partners' guidance, we have blocked around 400 keywords and hashtags related to wildlife trafficking. Though illegal wildlife trade content is not popular on TikTok, we must nevertheless take a proactive stance in identifying and removing harmful content.
Supporting education and conversation
However, content removals are only one part of a holistic safety approach. Empathetic interventions and education are also necessary. To encourage learning and understanding, we redirect searches so that when people try to find content that violates our policies around wildlife trafficking, they will see a message reminding them of our policies. Additionally, we've worked with WWF to introduce public service announcements that appear when people search for or click on specific wildlife-related hashtags or content, with the goal of encouraging our community to learn more about this deeply important area and directing them towards authoritative information.
A vibrant and growing community has formed on TikTok to create and share content on important topics including environmentalism, and we witness this conservation-focused content reach new audiences every day. We're proud of these creators—whose ranks include television networks, parks, veterinarians, marine biologists, activists, and more—who use TikTok to tell their stories, teach people about the importance of wildlife, and express their passion for protecting the environment and all the life that depend on it. It's no surprise that hashtags like #conservation and #wildlife have garnered over 12 billion views within the app.
Partnering for stronger impact
Inspired by our community, last year we celebrated World Sea Turtle Day, a day that recognizes the importance of protecting sea turtles. Activities such as poaching and commercial fishing have led to 6 of the 7 sea turtle species being threatened with extinction. The plight of the sea turtles and other animals serve as a reminder of why we are dedicated to continuing to learn from partners, like the Coalition to End Wildlife Trafficking Online and WWF, and evolving our methods for identifying and removing content and activity that could harm wildlife. And while there is no finish line when it comes to safety, we know that preventing wildlife trafficking online is critically important work we must continue because we want TikTok to play a positive role in the lives of those both on and off the platform.