Craigslist drops personal ads due to sex trafficking bill
Craigslist drops personal ads due to sex trafficking bill
By Lia Eustachewich March 23, 2018 | 9:53am | Updated
Craigslist has yanked its personal ads section in the
wake of an anti-online sex trafficking bill that passed in Congress this week.
The Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex
Trafficking Act, or FOSTA, makes websites criminally liable for content that
its users post, including prostitution ads and sex-trafficking content.
Craigslist — whose personals include bawdy categories
such as casual encounters — said it pulled ads because it wasn’t worth running
afoul of the new law.
“Any tool or service can be misused,” the website said in
a statement. “We can’t take such risk without jeopardizing all our other
services, so we are regretfully taking craigslist personals offline. Hopefully
we can bring them back some day.”
It added, “To the millions of spouses, partners, and
couples who met through craigslist, we wish you every happiness!”
Reddit also banned sex-worker subreddits, including
Escorts, Male Escorts, Hookers and SugarDaddy, shortly after the bill was
passed.
Previously, websites like Craigslist and Backpage faced
broad protections from legal liability for user-posted content.
FOSTA has been criticized by some lawmakers and sex
workers for making it harder to combat sex trafficking.
“The failure to understand the technological side effects
of this bill — specifically that it will become harder to expose
sex-traffickers, while hamstringing innovation — will be something that this
Congress will regret,” Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) told CNN earlier this month.
Wyden and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) voted against
FOSTA, which passed 97-2 in the Senate on Wednesday. It is likely to be signed
into law by President Trump.
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