Arts & Entertainment
Craigslist removes personal ads after passage of sex trafficking bill

Craigslist has dropped its personals section in response to an anti sex-trafficking bill passed on Wednesday.
Craigslist’s personals section is now a thing of the past.
The classified ads website announced on Friday that it would be shutting down the section in response to the Senate approving the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA), which passed on Wednesday.
The bill, which is awaiting President Donald Trump’s signature, would enforce fines, penalties and prison time up to 10 years for individuals who own, operate or manage a website used “to promote or facilitate the prostitution of another person.”
Under the new regulations, Craigslist’s owners would face legal repercussions if a third party was using their website for prostitution or sex trafficking content.
The personals section now only displays a statement from Craigslist explaining the change.
“US Congress just passed HR 1865, “FOSTA”, seeking to subject websites to criminal and civil liability when third parties (users) misuse online personals unlawfully,” the personals section reads. “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!”
Reddit has also removed its subreddits, Escorts, Male Escorts, Hookers and SugarDaddy, in the wake of the bill.
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(Washington Blade photos by Landon Shackelford)















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