Say Goodbye To Craigslist's "Personals" Section

Craigslist founders

Personal ads on Craigslist have ghosted users on the popular website thanks to a new law passed by Congress on Wednesday.

After both houses of Congress passed H.R. 1865, an anti-online sex trafficking bill commonly known as FOSTA (Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act), removes some portions of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. The 1996 law shielded website operators that hosted third-party content from any civil liability that might arise. The new bill was aimed at Backpage, a website authorities say facilitated advertisements for prostitution in violation of federal and state laws. 

The new rules means websites like Craigslist would be held responsible for any illegal acts their users ultimately took take part in. 

Craigslist announced its decision on Thursday with a post on the most-widely used sections of the website. 

“US Congress just passed HR 1865, “FOSTA”, seeking to subject websites to criminal and civil liability when third parties (users) misuse online personals unlawfully.

Any tool or service can be misused. We can’t take such risk without jeopardizing all our other services, so we are regretfully taking craigslist personals offline. Hopefully we can bring them back some day.

To the millions of spouses, partners, and couples who met through craigslist, we wish you every happiness!”

Craigslist isn't the only site to tighten up restrictions on its users. Reddit, a popular online message board recently banned a series of subreddits, including many that allowed users to "solicit or facilitate any transaction or gift involving certain goods and services." Popular subreddits like /r/beermarket /r/gundeals, and /r/cigarmarket were banned along. However, some subreddits like /r/sexsells were allowed to remain. 

Photo: Getty Images


Sponsored Content

Sponsored Content