{"id":196543,"date":"2018-03-23T08:18:57","date_gmt":"2018-03-23T12:18:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vice.com\/?p=196543"},"modified":"2024-07-27T11:33:20","modified_gmt":"2024-07-27T15:33:20","slug":"craigslist-personal-ads-sesta-fosta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vice.com\/en\/article\/craigslist-personal-ads-sesta-fosta\/","title":{"rendered":"Craigslist Just Nuked Its Personal Ads Section Because of a Sex-Trafficking Bill"},"content":{"rendered":"

Craigslist announced early Friday morning that it would no longer host personal ads of any kind, in response to a bill that\u2019s meant to curb sex trafficking\u2014but will harm consenting sex workers<\/a>, instead, according to groups like the ACLU and the Center for Democracy and Technology.
<\/p>\n\n

Wednesday, the senate voted overwhelmingly<\/a> to pass a bill mashup of the Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA) and the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA). The bill will make websites like Craigslist, as well as social networks like Facebook and Twitter, more liable for what their users say and do on their platforms. <\/p>\n\n

Two days after the vote to pass it, we\u2019re already seeing the repercussions.<\/p>\n\n

The classifieds site\u2019s been in operation since 1995, with personals ads\u2014including \u201ccasual encounters,\u201d \u201cmisc romance,\u201d \u201cstrictly platonic,\u201d and various \u201cseeking\u201d sections\u2014as a central part of the forums. When you click on any of these sections today, you\u2019ll see a statement on their deletion: <\/p>\n\n

\u201cUS 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\u2019t 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!\u201d<\/p>\n\n

This is little consolation to the consensual sex workers that feared exactly this outcome of the bill\u2019s passage: Many were adamantly opposed to the bill prior to its passing\u2014along with several internet freedom groups\u2014saying that it would literally mean a difference between life and death.
<\/p>\n\n

\u201cMissed connections\u201d is still up, but it\u2019s in the \u201ccommunity\u201d section. Craigslist made this move to cover itself against the new liabilities it\u2019s under for what people do with its site, but it will be a blow to anyone who uses it for dating as well.<\/p>\n\n

This isn\u2019t the first time Craigslist decided to nuke a sex-focused section of its site in the middle of the night. In 2009, it shut down its erotic services section because of \u201cfears of prostitution and other illegal activities.<\/a>\u201d This move may have ultimately been responsible for people\u2019s deaths: In 2017, a study<\/a> of violence against women before and after Craigslist the erotic services section found a 17 percent decrease in female homicides during the time the service was open, as well as a decrease in rape cases. <\/p>\n\n

When sex workers are allowed to talk openly and freely about their clients, warn one another about bad dates, and screen clients online, they\u2019re unilaterally safer than when they\u2019re forced outdoors to work. Websites reacting to FOSTA-SESTA will change how this entire ecosystem operates, and we\u2019re already seeing it happen before it even becomes law. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The classified ads website says it \u201ccan\u2019t take such risk\u201d after the SESTA-FOSTA sex-trafficking bill passed Wednesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":196544,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"byline":{"profiles":[{"type":"byline_id","atts":{"term_id":3778,"post_id":6854}}]},"savage_platform_role_ideator":[],"savage_platform_role_editor":[6861],"savage_platform_role_senior_editor":[],"savage_platform_role_photographer":[],"savage_platform_role_illustrator":[],"savage_platform_role_translator":[],"savage_platform_role_as-told-to":[],"savage_platform_role_reviewed-by":[],"savage_platform_disable_recirculation":false,"savage_platform_article_type":"news","savage_platform_vice_article_type":"article","savage_platform_article_intent":"","savage_platform_show_affiliate_disclaimer":false,"savage_platform_markdown_available":false,"savage_platform_markdown_version":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"wp_curate_deduplication":false,"wp_curate_unique_pinned_posts":false,"savage_platform_featured_image_caption":"","_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"savage_platform_subheadline":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[14120,28931,9547,79592,50912,41,161],"platform-languages":[437925],"byline":[3778],"class_list":["post-196543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tech","tag-craigslist","tag-fosta","tag-motherboard","tag-personal-ads","tag-sesta","tag-sex-work","tag-tech","sp_language-en"],"savage_platform_primary_term":{"category":{"term_name":"Tech","term_id":559,"term_link":"https:\/\/www.vice.com\/en\/category\/tech\/"},"post_tag":{"term_name":"craigslist","term_id":14120,"term_link":"https:\/\/www.vice.com\/en\/tag\/craigslist\/"}},"hide_from_homepage":false,"apple_news_notices":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Craigslist Just Nuked Its Personal Ads Section Because of a Sex-Trafficking Bill","url":"http:\/\/www.vice.com\/en\/article\/craigslist-personal-ads-sesta-fosta\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.vice.com\/en\/article\/craigslist-personal-ads-sesta-fosta\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.vice.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/03\/1521807443411-shutterstock_209624503.jpeg?w=150&h=150&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.vice.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/03\/1521807443411-shutterstock_209624503.jpeg"},"articleSection":"Tech","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Samantha Cole"}],"creator":["Samantha Cole"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"VICE","logo":""},"keywords":["craigslist","fosta","motherboard","personal ads","sesta","sex work","tech"],"dateCreated":"2018-03-23T12:18:57Z","datePublished":"2018-03-23T12:18:57Z","dateModified":"2024-07-27T15:33:20Z","metadata":[]},"rendered":"