Back in November, we wrote about how Craigslist was facing increasing scrutiny from legislators, attorney generals, and law enforcement professionals for its “Erotic Services” section. Since that time, Craigslist has implemented a number of initiatives designed to curb abuse of the site by requiring credit card verification and phone number confirmations. According to Craigslist, these measures have caused a 90% drop in the number of Erotic Services listings.
It seems, however, that this was not enough for critics as Craigslist announced today that it will officially shut down its “Erotic Services” section and replace it with a new section labeled “Adult Services.” As reported at Ars Technica, all new listings to the Adult Services section will need to be manually approved by a Craigslist staffer. Additionally, Adult Services ads will now cost $10 each. Approved users will be able to re-post subsequent ads for $5.
While it will be interesting to see whether or not these measures effectively curb prostitution on Craigslist in the long term, it is more interesting to see how political pressure can be used to influence online media. Does this foreshadow increased government regulation of Internet in the future, or is this merely an isolated incident?
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