One potential customer asked if they could raise an ostrich in their backyard.
The News Lens
Date: 2017/12/28
By: Yulin
Facebook launched the “Facebook Live” function last year, which allows individuals and
Credit: Yulin
businesses to livestream video from their profile. In Taiwan, this new offering has taken an odd turn, with the service being used to sell animals from ostriches to terrapins.
Of the 1,000 most-viewed live streams in Taiwan, 538 were auctions from private accounts, and another 172 were live auctions from businesses; of the total, 70 percent were selling products of some kind. Online trading via live auctions is difficult to regulate – the law hasn’t caught up to technology, and many sales exist in a legal grey area.
Of these broadcasts, 7.5 percent involved selling animals. Facebook’s terms of use expressly forbid the sale of animals, but this restriction obviously isn’t effective without local law enforcement actively backing it up. Many animals not traditionally sold as pets have appeared at Taiwan’s auction, including foxes, goats, pigs, turtles, ducks, meerkats and ostriches. One page even claimed to have sold more than 500 turtles and 3,000 tortoises. [FULL STORY]
