Craigslist told Congress Wednesday that it had permanently terminated its “Adult Services” section in response to criticism that it was facilitating child exploitation and prostitution. And it was criticized by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, a group with whom it had worked, which characterized the shut down as “progress”
In written testimony, Craigslist Head of Customer Service and Law Enforcement Initiatives Clint Powell listed a number of initiatives the company had taken to weed out and deter ads. They required people who took out “Adult Services” ads to provide a working phone number and valid credit card information, he said. The company also manual screened all ads in “Adult Services” and reported abuses to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Since the section was shut down on Sept. 3, Powell said, ads that used to show up there have migrated to other sites online which, he asserted, may create an law enforcement nightmare.
“Those who formerly posted adult services ads on Craigslist will now advertise at countless other venues,” Powell wrote. “It is our sincere hope that law enforcement and advocacy groups will find helpful partners there.”
In separate written testimony, Craigslist’s outside attorney Elizabeth McDougall, said Craigslist is using “proprietary” technical measures to push adult services ads off its site to other online ad sites. “Migration of the relatively small percentage of total U.S. adult services advertising that had been posted on Craigslist to less socially responsible venues uninterested in best practices is an unfortunate step backward in the fight against trafficking and exploitation,” McDougall wrote.
And she echoed Powell’s “Good luck with that” testimony.
“In Craigslist, law enforcement and NGO advocates had a highly responsive partner that listened to and was willing to meet with all concerned parties, and worked collaboratively to develop and implement best practices for minimizing such harms in the context of adult services advertising,” wrote McDougall. “As a legal counselor with a strong personal interest in combating human trafficking and child exploitation, it has been my sincere privilege to assist this exceptionally conscientious company and it is sadly dismaying to see Craigslist’s good deeds in this regard be unduly punished.”
But in his testimony National Center for Missing and Exploited Children CEO Ernie Allen applauded the closing of Craigslist’s adult services section, saying that while the company had rejected 700,000 ads since coming to an agreement with the center, it had only reported 137 cases.
“If indeed [the shutdown] occurred, we think this is a positive and encouraging step,” Allen said, while simultaneously saying ending child sexual trafficking requires “engaging with companies at the center of the problem.”
“We recognize if we crack down in one area, it will migrate to another place,” Allen said. “But that is progress.”
Tina Frundt, who heads a Washington, D.C. shelter for exploited children called Courtney’s House, said that the kids she helps were all sold on Craigslist and that other sites were involved as well.
“Every pimp has a MySpace page,” Frundt testified, adding that ads also show up on Backpages.com. “Every john uses a john board and posts information on where to buy children.”
“This has been going on for many years. We must do something about our children being sold on the internet.”
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