May 16, 2025
HANOI – Ten private social media groups involved in the illegal online sale of wildlife have been permanently removed from online platforms, as part of a campaign launched by Education for Nature Vietnam (ENV) to combat illegal wildlife trading, ENV announced on Thursday.
The campaign, titled ‘Day Against Online Wildlife Crime,’ began in February and has since taken place regularly on the third Wednesday of each month, according to Deputy Director of ENV Nguyễn Thị Phương Dung.
She highlighted that 101,088 user accounts were associated with the removed groups, all now permanently disabled.
“These accounts had previously participated in sharing, accessing or trading wildlife products,” Dung said, adding that the removal marks a significant step toward cleaning up illegal activities in online spaces.
ENV has scheduled the next event for the campaign on May 21. The group urges the public to report violations on Facebook and spread awareness to eliminate illegal wildlife trading.
In 2024, ENV detected 206,927 instances of live animals and wildlife products being advertised for sale on Facebook.