From Politico Playbook by Mike Allen. Note to readers, I haven’t investigated this story myself; this is from a source I’ve found to be reliable and is intended as a conversation starter. Clearly, these listings — originally intended for ‘solo practitioner’ sexworkers — were being used by larger, more organized operations. But it would seem that CL did little to help mitigate problems. The issue takes us to the slippery razor’s edge of how to balance the Constitutional guarantee that the government will not interfere with the media, and the social responsibility connected with free speech. One problem is that various bans on prostitution have never worked, and never will; nor will banning the listings. Somebody else will take the business. But then, in the most elemental terms, sex trafficking is always matter of supply and demand. –ef
Why Craigslist is suddenly abandoning its lucrative “adult services” ads, which created a market for exploitation of young girls – And the coming role for Congress: On Friday night, the online classified behemoth dropped a black “censored” bar over its adult services listings, and a top legal source tells Playbook that indications are that Craigslist plans to discontinue that part of the site permanently.
The N.Y. Times reported in April: “The ads, many of which blatantly advertise prostitution, are expected to bring $36 million this year.” The raunchy ads empowered pimps, who could post the location of a hotel room on Craigslist, then wait for a string of customers to come have inexpensive sex with underage girls who were working against their will.
Despite repeated complaints from law enforcement and state authorities, Craigslist officials had been recalcitrant about making changes, for both financial and philosophical reasons. This weekend’s turnaround resulted from a quiet, low-budget synthesis of GOVERNMENT, MEDIA, CELEBRITIES and ADVOCACY GROUPS – a textbook pressure campaign that defeated an Internet powerhouse.