Craigslist To Drop Personals Ads In Response To Sex Trafficking Bill
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — One of the classified sections Craigslist is best known for is being dropped in response to new legislation approved by Congress.
The online classifieds site is dropping its personals ads after the U.S. Senate voted to pass the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act, or FOSTA.
The bill makes it easier to sue websites that allow sex traffickers to post ads. Tech companies had fought the bill, saying they were not responsible for what people post on their platforms.
Craigslist says "any tool or service can be misused. We can't take such risk without jeopardizing all our other services, so we are regretfully taking [C]raigslist personals offline."
According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the bill not only silences online speech by forcing Internet platforms to censor their users, but will actually put trafficking victims in more danger.
"When the Department of Justice is the group urging Congress not to expand criminal law and Congress does it anyway, something is very wrong," the EFF said in a statement. "Assuming that the president signs it into law, SESTA/FOSTA is the most significant rollback to date of the protections for online speech."