March 23, 2018
WND: Craigslist kills 'personals' over online sex trafficking
Responding to a bill passed by Congress, Craigslist has killed its personal ad categories, including "strictly platonic," "women seek women," "women seeking men," "men seeking women," "men seeking men," misc romance" and "casual encounters."
While the categories still appeared on the organization's website Friday, they linked to the following message:
"U.S. Congress just passed HR 1865, 'FOSTA', seeking to subject websites to criminal and civil liability when third parties (users) misuse online personals unlawfully. Any tool or service can be misused. 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. To the millions of spouses, partners, and couples who met through craigslist, we wish you every happiness!"...
One supporter of the legislation said the newlaw battles sites that "knowingly exploit women and children for financial gain by serving as a brothel for online advertisements for traffickers and pimps." Donna Rice Hughes, president and CEO of the activist organization Enough is Enough, said the 97-2 Senate vote was a "critical step toward draining the cyberswamp of commercial sexploitation."