Searching for lost sharks: extinct or alive?

Abstract

Throughout Southeast Asia, songbirds are sought as pets, ornaments, for prayer releases, and particularly as competi- tors 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 hot- spot. The internet has provided new avenues for the exploi- tation, 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 tech- nology 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 adver- tising and facilitating trade in protected and threatened species of Indonesian birds.