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1/8 Social media has facilitated the explosive growth of the illegal antiquities trade by providing criminals an anonymous way to market stolen heritage and transact payments globally. Read @counteringcrime’s Fact Sheet on how social media enables it. https://bit.ly/2EJ46Lr
2/8 ACCO member @atharproject is tracking more than 120 groups on Facebook with a combined membership of more than 2 million members involved in selling and buying looted antiquities. Read their ground breaking research here. https://www.counteringcrime.org/trafficking-terrorism-and-war-crimes
3/8 Some of these traffickers are in terrorist groups, selling looted antiquities as a way to finance their illegal activities. https://www.counteringcrime.org/trafficking-terrorism-and-war-crimes
4/8 @atharproject says that the coronavirus pandemic has made archaeological sites increasingly vulnerable to looting. https://medium.com/alliance-to-counter-crime-online/facebook-antiquities-looters-remain-active-as-pandemic-rages-on-8a6a8e296988
5/8 The trading often occurs in Facebook Groups where admins may request a commission on sales or crowdsource knowledge about how to illegally excavate a site https://www.counteringcrime.org/plundered-heritage-antiquities-trade-on-social-media
6/8 @atharproject’s research found that an astonishing 80% of the posts offered looted antiquities from conflict zones or neighbouring countries. https://www.counteringcrime.org/plundered-heritage-antiquities-trade-on-social-media
7/8 In June 2020, after pressure from @atharproject and the UN, Facebook updated their Community Standards to ban the sale of artifacts on their family of platforms. Enforcement of their own rules is a different matter. https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2020/07/archaeologists-defied-isis-then-they-took-facebook/614674/
8/8 Our mission is to reform the laws governing tech so it’s illegal for platforms to host the plunder of ancient sites and other serious crime like human trafficking and wildlife trafficking. Do you support our mission? Make a donation! https://bit.ly/35KrEKZ
