SC to Craigslist: Kill Sex Ads or We Prosecute

Site has not complied with deal to curtail escort outfits: AG
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted May 5, 2009 2:48 PM CDT
SC to Craigslist: Kill Sex Ads or We Prosecute
In this 2005 file photo, Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster, left, and founder Craig Newmark, center, are photographed outside of their office in San Francisco.   (AP Photo)

South Carolina's top prosecutor today called on Craigslist executives to take down ads related to prostitution and pornography or face prosecution. “It appears that the management of Craigslist has knowingly allowed the site to be used for illegal and unlawful activity,” wrote Henry McMaster, South Carolina’s AG, “after warnings from law enforcement officials and after an agreement with 40 state attorneys general."

Craigslist has agreed to several safeguards, like allowing users to flag pornographic postings they believe violate the site's rules. But McMaster doesn't think Craigslist has done enough to keep those images, as well as ads for prostitution, off its Web site, giving the company until May 15 to take down sex-related postings from its South Carolina sites—or face criminal prosecution for abetting the sex trade. (More brothel stories.)

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