Craigslist, the free online classified advertising, is changing their policies regarding free advertising. The change will not affect each and every type of advertising but will affect only those which are for erotic services.

Craigslist, the San Francisco-based company, will charge advertisers of massages, escort services, strippers and the like. They will have to pay fee for their messages. The money collected will be donated to charity.

The move may be a result of the deal between the company and state attorneys generals to tackle prostitution ads.

“It raises the accountability for people posting to the category,” said Craigslist Chief Executive Officer Jim Buckmaster. “Our well-intentioned users don’t want to see illegal activity on the site, either.”
People who post erotic messages or ads already need to provide their phone numbers to Craiglist. But some software offers services which can bypass this necessity. As such Craiglist does not have to take such steps –legally, as it is not bound by laws to do so. However legal officials can subpoena Craiglist and other such companies to get the user information including phone numbers and credit cards.

In the past such subpoenas resulted very less information as most of the information of people posting erotic messages were not available. People could post such prostitution ads anonymously. Now as according to the new system, users will have to use a phone number and a credit card to post such messages.

The need of a phone number has already reduced the sex ad number by 80%. Requirement to pay a fee will further reduce such postings.

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