Craigslist says no plans to bring back sex ads

A top Craigslist employee testified to Congress today that the company has no plans to bring back its adult-services ads, after the online ad-listing service shut down the section Sept. 3 over criticism that the company wasn't doing enough to crack down on sex traffickers who target minors.

Craigslist Head of Customer Service and Law Enforcement Initiatives Clint Powell said the ads have begun to migrate to other websites, and he wished law enforcement best of luck in tracking down offenders, Wired reporter Ryan Singel writes.

The Upshot reported earlier that adult-services ads are easily found through Google and Yahoo!, among many other sites. Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster has complained that his company takes disproportionate heat for sex-services ads, even though Craigslist manually screens ads to weed out traffickers while other companies do not.

Anti-child-trafficking advocates are still encouraged by the company's suspension of the adult services listings. "We recognize if we crack down in one area, it will migrate to another place," National Center for Missing and Exploited Children CEO Ernie Allen said. "But that is progress."