Online Marketplaces’ Anti‐Data Collection Policies Hinder Research on Biodiversity Conservation and Zoonotic Disease Prevention
Abstract
Recently, we encountered a roadblock to similar research when we set out to assess online trade in bats (Tarango et al. 2025 ).We planned to include Etsy in our investigation, as other surveys of wildlife on e-commerce platforms have done (Coleman et al. 2024 ;Hunter et al. 2024 ;Losey et al. 2022 ).Just prior to project execution, we discovered that they had adopted a policy that prohibited all data collection (Etsy 2025 ).Other major e-commerce and social media platforms that permit wildlife trade, like eBay, Facebook, and TikTok, have also implemented policies that limit
Fields of Study & Subjects
Wildlife Conservation and Criminology Analyses
Conservation
Ecology
Wildlife Education
Zoonotic diseases and public health
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Conservation Letters
- Volume
- 19
- Issue
- 1
- Publication date
- 1 January 2026
- Language
- EN