Overview
- The report, released Tuesday, May 19, documented 1,614 live primates advertised in 1,131 posts across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube during a six-week monitoring period in mid‑2025.
- Researchers identified 12 species for sale, with macaques the most common (839 listings) and many listings offering infants or juveniles at prices from about $250 to $6,500.
- Sellers routinely disguised commercial sales as rehoming, adoption or rescue, used code words and moved conversations to private messages to evade platforms' automated detection.
- Platforms say they prohibit wildlife sales; YouTube reported a partnership with WWF to remove violators and Meta removed groups after reporter queries, but removals were limited and inconsistent.
- Advocates urge Congress to pass the Captive Primate Safety Act, want platforms to expand detection and reporting tools, and call for more funding and cybercrime expertise for enforcement to protect animals and public health.