Will Craigslist remove erotic services from Canadian listings?

On-line classifieds site Craigslist will be removing erotic-services listings from all U.S. cities beginning today. According to a press release issued by Connecticut’s attorney general Richard Blumenthal, the San Francisco–based company plans to eliminate the erotic-services section from its site within seven days. Users are already unable to post new ads to the category. A statement from Craigslist can be found here.

Content such as “escort services, sensual massage, adult Web cams, phone sex, erotic dancing, adult Web sites, [and] nude housecleaning” will be hosted on Craiglist’s adult-services section instead.

According to the FAQ page, Craigslist’s erotic services charged a small fee and required credit-card authorization from those wishing to post an ad to U.S. cities. There, Craigslist had commented on its decision not to moderate posts in order to “err on the side of respecting free speech and privacy rights, and to leave moral judgments to the greater wisdom of the craigslist community”.

Posts to the new section will now be reviewed and moderated by Craigslist staff. Ads will cost users $10 to publish and an additional $5 for each repost.

Blumenthal, head of a multi-state attorney general task force, believes that the move will “set a model for other sites” that are principally used to solicit sex.

The task force has been monitoring Craigslist closely since the much publicized murder of Julissa Brisman last month by alleged “Craigslist killer” Philip Markoff. Brisman, a masseuse, had advertised her services on the site.

Currently, Canadian users who create an account and have a phone number verified by Craigslist are free to publish erotic-services listings without charge. Craigslist has yet to comment on whether it will apply the changes to its erotic-services section to cities outside of the U.S.

Comments

9 Comments

Greg11111

Aug 9, 2009 at 10:35pm

Leave canada alone. Keep your commie crap on that side of the boarder!

e81

Oct 30, 2009 at 6:17am

Seems like a smart option from craigslist, in my opinion though angie’s list is the new and better site to check out.

Peter W Langaford

Mar 1, 2010 at 11:13pm

I wish they would start charging in Calgary. How can they allow unlicensed escort or dating services post ads when a newspaper can’t?

Dan

Mar 20, 2010 at 12:06pm

It's my understanding that on April 1 the Erotic Services categories will be dropped in B.C. and Quebec.

jason smythe

Sep 9, 2010 at 3:35pm

if two or more adults want to exchange sex or a massage for money, who's business is it ?

@jason

Dec 18, 2010 at 11:39pm

Every time I see self-righteous politicians going after depravity, it reminds me of the self-righteous politician who slammed gays while frequenting, let's say, places of ill-repute where gay men do their thing.

When a loud mouth lawyer or politician goes after the symptoms, erotic ads in Craigslist, rather than the cause, politicians on the take to let these sex traffickers do their thing, I would have the RCMP go after the politicians.

Rob44

Dec 19, 2010 at 1:24am

Jason, it's all of our business if people want to exchange sex for money. HIV and AIDS costs Canada $560 million in health care. You can pay that if you like, and feel free to pay my share because I'm against activities that promote the spread of HIV.

Therzo38

Dec 19, 2010 at 2:59pm

More stifling of personal liberty. Pathetic if it's done here.

The "Morality Police" can go to hell. Different strokes for different folks. Stop the suppression of liberty and freedom!

piker

Dec 19, 2010 at 7:02pm

So, does this mean that Government will start coming after papers like the Georgia Straight and dictating what they can and cannot publish? Oh wait, it seems like we're already going down that road: see MacLeans.