ATHAR
Facebook is being used by networks of traffickers to buy and sell looted antiquities, the BBC has learned. Private groups also discuss how to illegally excavate ancient tombs, according to research by academics.https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-47628369
Facebook is being used by networks of traffickers to buy and sell looted antiquities, the BBC has learned. Private groups also discuss how to illegally excavate ancient tombs, according to research by academics. [Starts at 15:50 mark]https://www.bbc.com/audio/play/m0004mg7
“What we’ve seen is an explosion of sites and users on Facebook. It’s transnational and Facebook is essentially allowing this to happen on its watch,” al-Azm told the BBC.https://www.businessinsider.sg/facebook-closes-groups-being-used-to-sell-looted-artefacts-from-syria-2019-5/
In addition to Facebook pages offering looted antiquities, some also offer “looting to order,” where people ask for certain items that are subsequently stolen, according to the archaeologist. Facebook told the BBC that it has removed 49 groups as a result of the broadcaster’s investigation.https://www.foxnews.com/tech/...
Facebook has shut down 49 “loot-to-order” antiquities-trafficking pages selling bespoke artifacts from war zones to clandestine collectors, in response to a two-year BBC investigation.https://www.thedailybeast.com/facebook-pulls-49-sites-selling-artifacts-looted-to-order-from-syria-and-iraq?ref=scroll
Social media has played a significant role in resurgence of the illegal trade.https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-10-21/egypts-3-billion-dollar-smuggling-problem/10388394
Two ‘archaeoactivists’ have followed facebook groups about illegal excavations for a year. Trade is being conducted in illegally excavated treasures. It is teeming with tips about good sites and the approach to an excavation. [Translated from Dutch]https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2018/10/12/wie-illegaal-wil-opgraven-moet-op-...
Amr al-Azm and Katie A. Paul talk with WPR’s senior editor Robbie Corey-Boulet about how looters and traffickers of Middle Eastern antiquities are using Facebook to improve and expand their illicit trade in the digital age.https://www.iheart.com/podcast/263-trend-lines-28917866/episode/with-facebooks-help-middle-east-a...