Primates Are Being Sold Online at Alarming Rates and Social Media Is Making It Worse

A deeply troubling trend is unfolding across the digital landscape, and it involves some of the most intelligent, emotionally complex animals on the planet. A new report from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, the International Fund for Animal Welfare, and the World Wildlife Fund has uncovered a staggering surge in primates being bought and sold through social media platforms in the United States.

According to the report, researchers spent six weeks in mid-2025 monitoring activity on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. What they found was devastating: over 1,600 live primates listed for sale across more than 1,100 posts from just 122 users. Macaques made up the majority of listings, followed by marmosets and capuchins. Prices reached as high as $6,500 depending on the species, age, and rarity of the animal.

One of the most heartbreaking details in the findings is how sellers disguised these transactions. Many framed commercial sales as rescues or rehoming efforts, slipping past platform restrictions while remaining fully visible to the public. A simple search using terms like “monkey adoption” was enough to surface these posts. Most of the animals advertised were infants and juveniles, because buyers believe younger primates will bond more readily with humans. What this framing hides is the brutal reality behind the trade: infant primates are typically torn from their mothers in the wild, and many suffer severe trauma or die before ever reaching a buyer.

This is not just an animal welfare issue. Roughly 60 percent of the world’s primate species are already threatened with extinction, with habitat destruction from industrial agriculture and logging pushing populations further toward collapse. Wildlife trafficking is part of a global illicit trade estimated at $23 billion annually. Experts are calling for stronger federal laws and better reporting tools on social media platforms to close the loopholes that make primate trafficking a low-risk, high-reward crime.

You can make a difference by refusing to engage with or share content that romanticizes primates as pets, reporting suspicious wildlife sales when you see them online, and supporting organizations working to protect these magnificent creatures in the wild where they belong.

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