Craiglist's Erotic Services Section Gets the Boot

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» 14 May 2009

Craiglist's Erotic Services Section Gets the Boot

Craiglist has ultimately yielded to the requests of law enforcement authorities from all over the United States and decided to remove their "erotic services" section. The publication issued an official statement saying that as of Wednesday, postings to the erotic services category for all U.S. Craiglist sites will no longer be entertained. The category will be expunged within a week. Also effective on that date for all U.S. sites is a new section entitled "adult services" that will now handle all posts by "legal adult service providers".

The policy for posting in the new adult services section will involve manual review of each post before any could appear on the site to guarantee that each and every one complies with Craiglist's terms of use and posting guidelines. New posts are worth $10, but once approved, it can afterwards be reposted at only $5. The reason for this action stems in part from authorities claiming Craiglist to be a sleazy digital alleyway where online prostitution is woefully rampant and unfettered.

The official ABC News website reports that Craiglist's decision went about after the company's team of legal representatives had a meeting with Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan and the attorneys general of Missouri and Connecticut. Associated Press further confirms the report, adding that the states' officials insisted that the site remove ads that they argue are advertisements for illegal sexual services.

Lawmakers from numerous states have complained that Craiglist's erotic services section has served as a massive online brothel used by thousands of people to solicit for sex. Authorities have also protested for many years that prostitutes are more difficult to capture, much less arrest, on Craiglist because of the protection of anonymity that the service offers to everyone who wants to post ads on the site.

Craiglist management initially addressed the grievances by trying to deter users from posting questionable content, such as requiring posters of ads in the erotic services section to first provide a credit card number. They also reasoned early on that Internet prostitutes don't need the erotic services section to do their shady business, and they further rationalized that eliminating the section will end up forcing people to do their business in the site's other areas.

However, Craiglist soon received some bad press from its actions after two women were robbed and one other was murdered in the Boston area. The suspected killer reportedly found his victims through Craiglist ads, and the media immediately labeled him as the "Craiglist killer". In the end, the murder suspect was arrested long after the damage to Craiglist's reputation was done, hence the Internet publication's recent attempts to rectify the public relations disaster.