Social media is flooded with illegal wildlife trade but A.I. can help

In the fight against poachers and illegal trade, animals can use all the help they can get. Thanks to researchers at the University of Helsinki's Digital Geography Lab, wildlife may find that aid through a popular tool traffickers use to deal their illegal wares -- social media. "With an estimated two and a half billion users, easy access has turned social media into an important venue for illegal wildlife trade," Enrico Di Minin, a conservation scientist working on the project, told Digital Trends. "Wildlife dealers active on social media release photos and information about wildlife products to attract and interact with potential customers, while also informing their existing network of contacts about available products. Currently, the lack of tools for efficient monitoring of high volume social media data limits the capability of law enforcement agencies to curb illegal wildlife trade. We plan to develop and use methods from artificial intelligence to efficiently monitor illegal wildlife trade on social media."