This past weekend, Craigslist shut down its “Adult Services” Section of the website, but some have concerns prostitution on the Internet remains alive and well, quite possibly still on Craigslist.
Craigslist took down the section on Saturday after receiving pressure from more than a dozen State Attorneys General. But on Monday, KREM 2 News found one questionable listing that popped up for Spokane.
Connecticut Attorney General, Richard Blumenthal, says over a number of years he and several others have persuaded Craigslist to take action, eliminating prostitution ads. He says fortunately, now the site has done the right thing voluntarily by shutting down the adult services section.
Until Saturday, people sealing adult, erotic services, which includes everything from sensual massages to various acts of prostitution could advertise on Craigslist. If anyone were to try and find those arousing activities today, he or she would find a censor bar sitting where the adult services use to be.
KREM 2 News wanted to see if this was still happening on Craigslist, just in another section. When we looked under “Personals” we checked out “Casual Encounters.” The site posts warnings of these being adult listings and asks users to flag anything prohibited or anything illegal. Most ads appeared to be people looking for some form of sexual encounter, but not for money. But one headline posted Sunday caught out attention as questionable.
The man wrote that he was looking for a woman to help him relieve some sexual tension and in return he would help her financially. Some may question whether this could be a possible monetary exchange for sexual services, exactly what 17 state attorneys general have worked to stop on Craigslist.
Martha Coakley is the attorney general for Massachusetts. She says, “what we don’t want them to do is to have an open ended bulletin board as they have which allows for the clear advertising soliciting that is illegal.
KREM 2 News went back to the website this afternoon to specifically ask the man if he was asking for sex, but the ad had already been pulled.
