Elephant ivory, rhino horn and tiger teeth are among the body parts of endangered animals being sold on Facebook, a whistleblower group has claimed.

Sick wildlife traffickers are using the social network to advertise their illegal wares, according to a secret complaint filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Wildlife preservation advocates allege that Facebook's failure to stop illicit traders using its service violates the firm's responsibilities as a publicly traded company.

The advertisements have appeared on the group pages of a number of well-known American corporations, they say.

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Elephant ivory, rhino horn and tiger teeth (pictured) are among the body parts of threatened animals being sold on Facebook, a whistleblower group has claimed. Sick wildlife traffickers are using the social network to advertise their illegal wares, according to a secret complaint

The complaint was initially filed in August on behalf of an undercover informant represented by the National Whistleblower Center (NWC), a non-profit legal advocacy group in Washington DC.

The identity of the informant, who recorded video of face-to-face meetings with wildlife traffickers set up over Facebook, has been kept confidential due to safety concerns.

The SEC declined to comment on whether the whistleblower complaint triggered an investigation of the company.

'Facebook is not an innocent bystander to these crimes,' said Stephen Kohn, executive director of the NWC.

'Facebook sold advertisements on the very pages the illegal ivory was being marketed.'

Facebook is one of 20 technology companies that last month joined the Global Coalition to End Wildlife Trafficking Online, which was organised by Google and the World Wildlife Fund.

Wildlife preservation advocates allege that Facebook's failure to stop illicit traders using its service violates the firm's responsibilities as a publicly traded company. The ads have appeared on the group pages of a number of well-known American corporations, they say

WHAT IS THE GLOBAL COALITION TO END WILDLIFE TRAFFICKING ONLINE? The world’s most endangered species are under threat from an unexpected source, the Internet, according to the World Wildlife Fund. Advances in technology and connectivity across the world, combined with rising buying power and demand for illegal wildlife products, have increased the ease of exchange from poacher to consumer. As a result, an unregulated online market allows criminals to sell illegally obtained wildlife products across the globe. Purchasing elephant ivory, tiger cubs, and pangolin scales is as easy as click, pay, ship, they say. To counter this, the world’s biggest e-commerce, technology, and social media companies have joined forces to shut down online marketplaces for wildlife traffickers. The Global Coalition to End Wildlife Trafficking Online brings together companies from across the world in partnership with wildlife experts at WWF and Traffic, the wildlife trade monitoring network, as well as the International Fund for Animal Welfare. This industry-wide approach aims to reduce wildlife trafficking online by 80 per cent by 2020. WWF and partners are collaborating with tech companies across continents, including eBay, Google, Microsoft and Tencent, to unite the industry and maximise impact for reducing wildlife trafficking online. Advertisement

Weeks after the March 7 announcement, an Associated Press reporter was able to see scores of internationally banned wildlife products for sale in public and private Facebook groups, most based in Southeast Asia.

Among the items available were belts made from what appeared to be the fur of Bengal tigers, a critically endangered species with only about 2,500 still living in the wild.

Also advertised were horns from black rhinos, a species heavily targeted by poachers with little more than 5,000 still roaming Africa.

Negotiations over price and delivery are often initiated by Facebook Messenger.

Instagram and WhatsApp, two social media platforms also owned by Facebook, are also sometimes used by traffickers.

Negotiations over price and delivery are often initiated by Facebook Messenger (message icon pictured). Instagram and WhatsApp, two social media platforms also owned by Facebook, are also sometimes used by traffickers (stock image)

CHILDREN ARE BEING SOLD CIGARETTES AND E-CIGS ON FACEBOOK Children can buy tobacco and e-cigarettes on Facebook, research has found. They can be purchased by clicking the 'shop now' buttons on pages sponsored by brands on the scandal-hit social networking site. This is despite a ban on selling tobacco on Facebook. The study comes amid a huge investigation into the site after it admitted to sharing data of up to 87 million users with political consultancy firm Cambridge Analytica. Children can buy tobacco and e-cigarettes on Facebook, research has found (pictured: an advert for cigarettes and tobacco on the social networking site) Stanford University researchers warned the unpaid 'organic' marketing towards tobacco products could get youngsters hooked on the killer items. Professor Robert Jackler, lead author, said: 'Clearly, there are a lot of policies with the laudable intent of keeping tobacco promotion and sales out of Facebook. 'These policies are voluntary, and they are a sign of Facebook’s commitment to social responsibility. 'With some two billion users and an enormous volume of daily postings, Facebook has a daunting task of policing its content.' Government rules state that tobacco products must not be sold to anyone under the age of 18. Advertisement

The allegations tying Facebook to the illegal trafficking of wildlife are surfacing while the company is already scrambling to recover from a privacy scandal that has wiped out $79 billion (£56 bn) in shareholder wealth during the past three weeks.

Facebook has yet to respond to requests for comment on the issue, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg today busy testifying to the US House of Representatives over the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

The crisis stems from revelations that the data-mining firm, connected to President Donald Trump's successful 2016 campaign, had exploited weaknesses in Facebook's privacy controls.

This allowed them to collect personal information from more than 87 million people without their consent.

Zuckerberg will try to reverse the backlash against the company when he opens two days of testimony in Congress.

His appearance will give lawmakers the opportunity to grill him about the Cambridge Analytica episode, as well as evidence that Russian agents manipulated Facebook's network to spread false information that may have swayed the 2016 election.

WHAT IS THE CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA SCANDAL? Communications firm Cambridge Analytica has offices in London, New York, Washington, as well as Brazil and Malaysia. The company boasts it can 'find your voters and move them to action' through data-driven campaigns and a team that includes data scientists and behavioural psychologists. 'Within the United States alone, we have played a pivotal role in winning presidential races as well as congressional and state elections,' with data on more than 230 million American voters, Cambridge Analytica claims on its website. The company profited from a feature that meant apps could ask for permission to access your own data as well as the data of all your Facebook friends. The data firm suspended its chief executive, Alexander Nix (pictured), after recordings emerged of him making a series of controversial claims, including boasts that Cambridge Analytica had a pivotal role in the election of Donald Trump This meant the company was able to mine the information of 87 million Facebook users even though just 270,000 people gave them permission to do so. This was designed to help them create software that can predict and influence voters' choices at the ballot box. The data firm suspended its chief executive, Alexander Nix, after recordings emerged of him making a series of controversial claims, including boasts that Cambridge Analytica had a pivotal role in the election of Donald Trump. This information is said to have been used to help the Brexit campaign in the UK. Advertisement

The SEC complaint may trigger other lines of inquiry about how much of Facebook's annual revenue of $41 billion (£30 bn) has been generated by ads running on pages featuring illegal activity, such as the sale of elephant ivory and tiger teeth.

Facebook hasn't disclosed that some of its revenue may be tied to illegal trafficking in wildlife in regulatory filings that are supposed to outline various risks and other threats that could crimp its profits or stock price.

Trafficking investigators say they have seen no drop off in the illegal products offered for sale on Facebook after prior public pledges by the company to crack down.

They are calling on federal security regulators to force Facebook to immediately freeze accounts being used by illegal traffickers and cooperate with international law enforcement to identify the individuals involved for prosecution.

'The amount of ivory being traded on Facebook is horrifying,' said Gretchen Peters, executive director of the Center on Illicit Networks and Transnational Organized Crime, which has analyzed online groups where wildlife goods are being marketed.

'I have looked at thousands of posts containing ivory, and I am convinced that Facebook is literally facilitating the extinction of the elephant species.'