Craigslist's Self Censorship of Its Adult Services Ads Unlikely to Have Any Effect on Prostitution

Craigslist, the original and best known online community bulletin board, apparently caved to pressure this weekend and has disabled, if not necessarily eliminated, its adult services section.

The vast majority of Craigslist focuses on benign buying and selling of things such as used furniture, tickets to concerts, job postings and apartment rentals. But a small yet highly visible part of the website did advertise, albeit in vague language, adult oriented services that seemed to hint at the exchange of money for sex.

Over the past ten days, seventeen state attorney generals came together to put pressure on Craigslist to either better regulate or eliminate all together the section on its website that most believe serves as a platform for prostitution.

A multi-state letter, dated August 24, 2010 and addressed to Craigslist CEO signed by the attorney generals read, in part:

"The increasingly sharp public criticism of craigslist's Adult Services section reflects a growing recognition that ads for prostitution - including ads trafficking children - are rampant on it. In our view, the company should take immediate action to end the misery for the women and children who may be exploited and victimized by these ads.

Your much-touted 'manual review' of Adult Services ads has failed to yield any discernable reduction in obvious solicitations. We recognize that craigslist may lose the considerable revenue generated by the Adult Services ads. No amount of money can justify the scourge of illegal prostitution, and the suffering of the woman and children who will continue to be victimized, in the market and trafficking provided by craigslist."

Craigslist itself has not publicly commented on what it is doing with its adult services section, but instead has put a black banner over the section, with white letters spelling out 'Censored'. Outside of the United States, the adult services section is still available.

Speculation is running rampant over whether or not Craigslist plans to permanently eliminate its adult services section or whether it is bracing for a fight; particularly by the use of the word 'censored', it seems that Craigslist might be attempting to prove a point.

It is highly questionable as to whether or not the pressure put on Craigslist, and its subsequent censoring of its adult services section, will have any significant impact on prostitution in metropolitan areas around the country. While its seems likely that many prostitutes and their 'johns' used Craigslist to find one another, there is no shortage of other online services helping, probably in ways far more effectively (and expensively) than Craigslist did, facilitate the world's oldest profession.

Online gossip site Gawker, for example, wasted no time in listing some of the myriad of options that people can use, in the absence of Craigslist, to find ladies (or men), of the evening. Online sources such as MyRedBook, Naughty Reviews, CityGuide and ErosReview, already thriving businesses all, are surely welcoming the news that they have one less competitor...one that competed at a much lower price point (zero) and one that offered far less in terms of features such as reviews and pictures of potential hired help.

While politicians may be satisfied that they made their point, the self censoring of Craigslist's adult service section may well turn into a 'freedom of speech fight' (and thereby elevating it to a noble cause in some quarters). Even if Craigslist goes away quietly on this issue, though, all would be well served to remember that prostitution existed long before Craigslist and hardly needs it to survive.

Source: Dwyer Arce, "Craigslist removes adult services section under pressure from state AGs", jurist.org
Source: Staff, "Your Post-Craigslist Guide to Buying Sex Online", gawker.com