The personals section of Craigslist was shut down indefinitely by its management on Thursday, a response to Congress’s passage of a law that holds websites liable for users who misuse personal ads.
That means no more “casual encounters” or “missed connections” (or anything under the “personals” umbrella) for anyone until much-further notice. It’s all just gone.
Here’s what it now reads when you try to click on any of the personals links:
US Congress just passed HR 1865, “FOSTA”, seeking to subject websites to criminal and civil liability when third parties (users) misuse online personals unlawfully.
Any tool or service can be misused. We can’t take such risk without jeopardizing all our other services, so we are regretfully taking craigslist personals offline. Hopefully we can bring them back some day.
To the millions of spouses, partners, and couples who met through craigslist, we wish you every happiness!
Crazy! This is really happening.
According to Gizmodo, Reddit has shut down several “questionable” subreddits because of the bill too. They are fearing “FOSTA” repercussions as well.
The EFF wrote Wednesday about the bill, saying, “Today was a dark day for the Internet.”
Thanks, K-daddy!