About a week ago, the folks at Craigslist replaced the link to its controversial Adult Services section with a non-clickable black box containing the word “censored.” At some point in the last day, the site has removed the box, but hasn’t resurrected the section the box had been covering up.

No one at Craigslist has officially commented on the removal of the Adult Services section, nor the placement and subsequent removal of the “censored” tag. However, site founder Craig Newmark did recently Tweet a link to a post on the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s blog that defends Craigslist’s right to host the section in question.

In this pivotal election year, Attorneys General in at least 18 states have launched investigations into allegations that the Adult Services listings had made Craigslist into a hub for prostitution and sex trafficking. Both Newmark and Jim Buckmaster, the site’s CEO, have denied these claims in recent months.

Since the Adult Services section became unavailable to U.S. users last weekend, some of those who had previously used the site to reach potential clients have reportedly just reworked their ads and relocated them to other, less conspicuous sections of Craigslist.

Craigslist Removes ‘Censored’ Bar [PCmag.com]

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