Shashi Tharoor's World of Words is a weekly column dissecting English language
Facebook on Friday said it will stop allowing the sale of land in Amazon rainforest conservation areas at marketplaces on the social network or its Instagram and WhatsApp services.
The announcement came as Facebook defends itself against accusations that it has long put profit over societal good, and caused some online to question why it had allowed sales of precious rainforest land in the first place.
“We are updating our commerce policies to explicitly prohibit the buying or selling of land of any type in ecological conservation areas on our commerce products across Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp,” the online social network said in a post.
“Protected areas are crucial for conserving habitats and ecosystems and are critical to tackling the global nature crisis.”
Facebook focused the announcement on the Amazon rainforest, saying it planned to ramp up the effort.
Facebook said it will review listings at its online Marketplace against an authoritative database of protected areas to identify and block listings for sales of land there.
>> Facebook Messenger, Instagram facing issues for second time in a week
“Wait, this is something that was happening?” read a tweeted reply to Facebook sharing the announcement at its verified Twitter account.
The sale of land in conservation areas happens on other platforms and offline, but Facebook is working to stop it from happening in its family of apps, the company said.
Shashi Tharoor's World of Words is a weekly column dissecting English language
Between them the two players are set to receive a stake around $150 million from the Tour's newly-formed enterprise
The four-time Grand Slam winner has enjoyed huge success with her powerful baseline game but has struggled on clay
The Tiago has been instrumental in driving Tata Motors’ consistent growth in the hatchback segment
'Women of My Billion' is set to premiere exclusively on Prime Video on May 3
Aditi and Siddharth recently shared the news of their engagement with an adorable picture
Video shows a red 4WD weaving in and out of traffic, causing a collision on the road shoulder
India captain Rohit Sharma said he is not a fan of the rule as it will hold back the development of all-rounders