Craigslist closes website's adult services section

Craigslist closed the adult services section of its website yesterday, replacing it with a black bar that says "censored," just more than a week after a group of state attorneys general said there weren't enough protections against blocking potentially illegal ads promoting prostitution.

The listings came under new scrutiny after the jailhouse suicide last month of Philip Markoff, 24, a former medical student who was awaiting trial in the killing of a masseuse he met through Craigslist.

Critics have likened the services to virtual pimping, while Craigslist maintained the site was carrying ads tamer than those in some newspapers.

Like many other free online forums, Craigslist typically does not review ads before they are posted by users. But in 2008, under pressure from 40 state attorneys general, Craigslist began requiring posters to provide a working phone number and pay a fee for placing an ad in what is now the adult services section. Several months later, Craigslist adopted a manual screening process in which postings are reviewed before publishing.

State officials believe Craigslist is still not doing enough to stop illegal ads from appearing.

The company said yesterday it would issue a statement on the matter.

Craigslist's adult services section carried ads for everything from personal massages to a night's companionship, which critics say veered into prostitution.

Craigslist's chief executive Jim Buckmaster said in a May blog posting the company's ads were no worse than those published by the alternative newspaper chain Village Voice Media. He cited one explicit ad which included the phrase: "anything goes $90."