Throughout Southeast Asia, songbirds are sought as pets, ornaments, for prayer releases, and particularly as competitors in singing competitions. In 2017, as a result of increased demand for wild-caught birds, the IUCN declared an Asian Songbird Extinction Crisis, with Indonesia a critical hotspot. The internet has provided new avenues for the exploitation, trafficking and sale of songbirds, including via the online marketplace OLX in Indonesia (Fink et al., 2021, Applied Geography, 134, 102505). The use of internet technology in the songbird trade is fast-moving and difficult for conservationists to address. Here we report evidence that TikTok (ByteDance, Beijing, China) is being used for advertising and facilitating trade in protected and threatened species of Indonesian birds.
Indonesia has c. 110 million TikTok users. In early 2021, TikTok joined the Coalition to End Wildlife Trafficking Online, releasing a guideline that ‘any content that depicts or promotes the poaching or illegal trade of wildlife is not allowed on our platform and will be removed when identified’, with 74% of this content allegedly removed before receiving any views (Koçak, 2021, TikTok, 16 June 2021). However, TikTok has been used to promote content from owners of exotic pets in the USA, some of which could be illegally sourced (Faheid, 2021, National Public Radio, 4 July 2021), and the UK TikTok site has been used to share images of illegal badger-killing trophies and organize attacks on badgers (Gatten, 2022, The Telegraph, 29 November 2022).
An example Tik Tok post that depicts wild songbird trade in Indonesia. Cak ijo is shorthand for cucak ijo, the trade name for leafbirds (Chloropsis spp.), PH, paruh hitam (black beak); jamin jantan (guaranteed male, although the photo could show either a juvenile male or an adult female of the greater green leafbird Chloropsis sonnerati); 450 ecer: IDR 450,000 (c. GBP 24); WA is shorthand for WhatsApp. We have obscured the telephone number and the name of the shop.
Here we present an example of the greater green leafbird Chloropsis sonnerati, an Endangered and protected species (under law P.106 of the Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry) that is a popular pet across Java (Marshall et al., 2019, Biological Conservation, 241, 108237). In presenting this image, we have used a privacy-compliant image processing tool to limit the risk of this TikTok user's identity being discoverable by reverse image search.
The proliferation of bird trade on online platforms poses new challenges for monitoring the trade of caged birds in Indonesia. There may be incentives to trade species online rather than in physical marketplaces, given the perception of enhanced anonymity and the potential to reach a wider market and secure higher sale prices (Fink et al., 2021, op. cit.). Our observation indicates that TikTok users are flouting the platform's guidelines. We recommend that the monitoring of bird trade and other illegal wildlife trade should include emerging and popular platforms such as TikTok.
Open access
