Hyderabad: Popular American ad platform Craigslist has shut down its “Personals” section in the USA, but not in any other country. It was forced to implement the move after the Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA) was passed in the USA. The bill holds websites responsible for any criminal and civil liability resulting from the abuse of their online personal ad platforms.
In its statement, Craigslist said, “Any tool or service can be misused. We can’t take such a risk without jeopardising all our other services, so we are regretfully taking Craigslist Personals offline.”
Craigslist Personals features several categories such as ‘Strictly platonic,’ ‘Women seeking men,’ ‘Women seeking women,’ ‘Men seeking men,’ ‘Misc. romance’ and ‘Casual encounters.’ It is still operational in Hyderabad and has only been shut down where FOSTA laws are applicable, which is within the USA. An independent security researcher Srinivas Kodali said, “They don’t have reason to shut it down in Hyderabad or any other city outside the USA. A problem will only arise if an Indian challenges Craigslist in a court in the USA,” he said.
Craigslist may have to pay damages in that case.” He added that Craigslist had removed its personal ads section believing that it couldn’t verify every user. “You will always have fake IDs and Craigslist cannot take responsibility for that,” he said.
