TikTok is being used by traders based in Lomé, Togo to openly advertise and sell dead endangered wild animals - including white-bellied pangolins - a new investigation released by World Animal Protection reveals.

The findings highlight a growing global conservation crisis where digital platforms are facilitating the wildlife trade, bypassing traditional enforcement mechanisms.

Dr. Angie Elwin, contributing researcher and Head of Research at World Animal Protection, said, "We are seeing social media becoming the new marketplace for endangered wildlife. It is easily accessible and massively unregulated, placing a direct threat to species' survival.

"TikTok's current failure to enforce its own rules is giving traders access to global buyers and puts endangered species, like white-bellied pangolins, a few clicks away from extinction."

Researchers reviewed 80 TikTok videos from two public accounts posted between November 2022 and April 2024. These videos featured:

·       Over 3,500 carcasses of smoked wild animals

·       27 different species, many of them protected under national and international laws

·       Over 130 white-bellied pangolins (Phataginus tricuspis), a species classified as Endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and protected under national and international laws, including being banned from international commercial trade through its CITES Appendix I listing.

Pangolins are the most trafficked mammals in the world, prized by some for their meat and scales - the latter used in traditional medicine across parts of Asia and Africa. Despite a global ban on international commercial trade in all pangolin species, trafficking persists. This research confirms that local and regional demand - not just international trafficking - is now a major threat. On TikTok, traders encourage users to choose wild meat for its taste and "health benefits" normalizing the illegal sale of protected species to vast online audiences.

With over 1.5 billion monthly users, TikTok has become a powerful driver of trends - and now, illicit wildlife trade. The analyzed videos had nearly 1.8 million views, 53,000 likes, and over 6,000 combined shares. The most watched video, which featured smoked pangolins, had been viewed more than 216,000 times.

Although TikTok's Community Guidelines prohibit wildlife trafficking, enforcement is failing. Many of the protected species in the videos, including pangolins, monitor lizards, and African wildcats, are illegal to trade without permits, yet were advertised without restriction.

The study warns that this trade poses not only a threat to biodiversity, but also to public health, due to the zoonotic disease risks linked to the handling and consumption of wild meat. Species like pangolins, rodents, mongooses, and jackals - all featured in the videos are known carriers of zoonotic pathogens.

Animal welfare is also a major concern. Pangolins and other animals often endure extreme suffering during capture, transport, and slaughter, with some reports of pangolins being boiled alive or burned to aid scale removal.

Delagnon Assou, Lead Author and researcher from the University of Lomé added: "In West and Central Africa, wild meat has long been valued for its taste, cultural importance, and role in local livelihoods. But the rise of social media sales is transforming the scale and nature of this trade.

"What was once a largely local, traditional practice is now reaching audiences far beyond national borders. This shift raises urgent concerns - not just for the survival of wild species, but also for public health, sustainability, and the communities that depend on wildlife."

The research recommends immediate action to governments, social media companies, and conservation groups:

    TikTok must enforce its own community guidelines, implement automated content detection, and launch in-app awareness campaigns on endangered species
    National governments should create policies and provide resources to support alternative livelihoods away from wildlife trading, strengthen and harmonize wildlife laws, enforce CITES regulations, and monitor online markets
    CITES authorities and conservation organizations should invest in public education campaigns to reduce demand and highlight the legal and ethical implications of wildlife consumption.

"Online platforms are driving new patterns of demand, especially among urban consumers, and posing fresh challenges for enforcement and regulation.

"If social media platforms don't act, extinction could unfold in real-time on their apps. This is a wake-up call. We must ensure platforms like TikTok do not become safe havens for wildlife traders. We need bold action - not just in Africa, but globally." concludes Dr. Elwin.