Facebook Has Moved To Ban Sales Of Looted Antiquities. Will It Make A Difference?
Archaeologists have ID'ed 100-plus Facebook groups offering looted and illicit antiquities for sale. New rules ban the sale of "historical artifacts" on Facebook but critics want more enforcement.
In a video shared in a Facebook group, a narrator speaking Syrian-accented Arabic describes an elaborate, Roman-era mosaic depicting mythological figures and animals. The colored glass and stone in the mosaic are still vivid some 2,000 years after it was created.
A brief glimpse of sweatpants worn by the narrator is the only indication of who is speaking. Then the camera pans out to show that the mosaic still lies in the ground, uncovered in a field of dirt and rocks.
The Facebook group is one of more than 100 that archaeologists have identified as offering looted and illicit antiquities for sale. To counter this online trade, Facebook announced new rules in June that, for the
