Craigslist: The Aftermath

On September 4^th, after much pressure from 17 state attorneys general, Craigslist finally shut down the long controversial ‘adult services’ section (aka the section with ads for child sex workers) on its website. Though the move was much desired, it was generally considered to be shocking because there were few that thought Craigslist would ever part with its $40 million+ a year making section. On top of that, the website had traditionally responded to such criticisms by pledging increased moderation, freedom of speech, or by citing the Communications Decency Act—protection for a website if they are prosecuted for content uploaded by users.

Now that a month has passed, it has been interesting to see some of the recurring criticisms that have followed the shutdown. As far as I’m concerned, any website that has a hand in sex trafficking should be dealt with accordingly—but it would appear that not everybody agrees with me on this point. The following are several common criticisms to the Craigslist crackdown, and my responses to them:

Don’t shoot the messenger—Craigslist isn’t responsible for the ads that users upload and can’t possibly moderate the thousands that come in on a daily basis.

The problem here is that Craigslist was actually acting as the medium, rather than the messenger. Often when debating this topic, it is natural to cite the Google analogy—whereas if a site like Craigslist gets shutdown then surely Google, where it is also possible to find similar sex trafficking advertisements should follow. Craigslist can’t moderate all of its ads—that’s a fact. However, by having a section dedicated to such activities, they are taking responsibility by making it a thousand times easier for the ads to be seen. Google has its problems, but they’ve never been an essentially self-declared platform for sex-trafficking.

Which leads to the next criticism.

Now sex trafficking will be pushed to the darker corners of the Internet.

While this is true, the point that is being missed from the shutdown is inaccessibility. Nobody is claiming that sex-trafficking will disappear forever now that Craigslist isn’t supporting it. But Craigslist is a major site—there are really only a handful of other ad sites out there that rival it—so cutting off easy access is a blow to this industry. The other side of the criticism is that technically the same ads can appear in other sections of Craigslist but think of it this way. If the moderators have a difficult time finding those illegally placed ads, then it will be just as difficult for everyone else. I’m not saying that the problem has been solved but I am saying that this is the first step towards a better solution.

Craigslist was being used by the police to catch sex-traders, taking this away is only making the problem worse.

In May 2009, Craigslist started charging for its ads in the adult services section. Aside from simply shutting the section down, this was the best way it could moderate the ads that were coming in. By collecting the personal contact information of anyone that posted ads there, they were able to immediately contact the police and put an end to the illegal activity. As was to be expected, this substantially cut down the number of people using the service for these means while also rounding up the remaining offenders for arrest.

While I do agree that this method did work to a certain degree, I am opposed to it because what’s being done here is that sex-trafficking victims are essentially being used as bait to catch sex-traffickers. I am sure that some will disagree with my moralities, but the whole ‘one for the greater good’ thing has never sat well with me. If 100% of the sex-trafficking ads on Craigslist led to an arrest I’d have a different opinion, but that isn’t the case. As I said before though, the adult services section was a medium for sex-traders, the best way to stop (or at least slow) them is to dismantle this medium.

In the end, I believe the shutdown to be a victory. Not just for the immediate effects that I discussed in the above, but also for bringing an issue that has long been ignored to mainstream audiences. Though it may seem like an old story now to the front pages of most newspapers, it does stand as remarkable encouragement that other ad sites will hopefully follow suit.

Once more with feeling: if you cut the medium, you cut the crime.

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