You can still find furniture or a roommate on Craigslist. But ads seeking romance or sexual connections are no longer going to be available, after Craigslist took down the "personals" section Friday for its U. The company says it made the change because Congress has passed the Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act, meant to crack down on sex trafficking of children.
It was approved by a landslide in the Senate earlier this week, as NPR's Alina Selyukh has reported , but has been met with criticism by free speech advocates and sex workers. As Craigslist wrote, the law seeks "to subject websites to criminal and civil liability when third parties users misuse online personals unlawfully. Hopefully we can bring them back some day. The site added: "To the millions of spouses, partners and couples who met through craigslist, we wish you every happiness!
Proponents of the measure have argued that it makes Internet sites more accountable for the content that users post that could contribute to child sex trafficking. But as Alina reported, tech companies see this as "the first major cutback to the protections that these companies have had under the law. It passed in the House by and in the Senate by Until , Craigslist had a section of the website called "erotic services," where people openly advertised sex.
That year it changed the name to "adult services" and promised stricter screening, after a medical student in Boston was accused of killing a woman he met through the site, NPR's Tovia Smith noted. Craigslist eventually stopped listing ads for "adult services" in , as NPR reported , though its personals section has continued until now.
The site's popular "missed connections" section remains in place in the U. The personals section is still accessible outside the U. Reddit has also announced policy changes this week.
