Facebook announced it will start explicitly prohibiting the buying or selling of land located in ecological conservation areas on Facebook Marketplace.
The new initiative is an attempt to curb attempts to sell land in protected areas within the Amazon rainforest, the company stated. The company’s ban on the sale of protected land will also be enforced on Instagram and WhatsApp.
Facebook said it will review listings on its Facebook Marketplace against a database of protected areas to identify listings that violate the new policy. The company did not specify which database of protected areas it would use.
“These are the first steps Facebook is taking to address this issue, and as with other integrity initiatives we will continue working to prevent people from circumventing our enforcement,” the company stated. “The sale of land in conservation areas happens on other platforms and offline as well, but we are committed to keep working with sustainability partners and authorities to address this issue on our apps the best way possible in the long term.”
Deforestation in the Amazon has been a steadily growing issue. The Guardian recently reported that the area is losing as much as 200,000 acres a day.
