Craigslist Sues SC AG Over His Legal Threats

Craigslist said on Wednesday that it is suing South Carolina's attorney general, Henry McMaster (shown), over his threat to bring criminal charges against the Web site and its executives.

In a blog post on their site, Craigslist said:

craigslist has filed suit against SC AG Henry McMaster in federal court in South Carolina, seeking declaratory relief and a restraining order with respect to criminal charges he has repeatedly threatened against craigslist and its executives. [...]

In addition to being unwarranted by the facts, legal experts agree that the charges threatened represent an unconstitutional prior restraint on free speech, and are clearly barred by federal law (sec 230 CDA).

Section 230 basically says a site can't be held legally liable for items posted by it users, BTW. McMaster responded quickly, saying the following in full:

Columbia, SC – “The defensive legal action craigslist has taken against the solicitors and my office is good news. It shows that craigslist is taking the matter seriously for the first time

More importantly, overnight they have removed the erotic services section from their website, as we asked them to do. And they are now taking responsibility for the content of their future advertisements. If they keep their word, this is a victory for law enforcement and for the people of South Carolina.

Unfortunately, we had to inform them of possible state criminal violations concerning their past practices to produce a serious response. We trust they will now adhere to the higher standards they have promised. This office and the law enforcement agencies of South Carolina will continue to monitor the site to make certain that our laws are respected.”

Craigslist has been under intense scrutiny of late, including a lawsuit filed by Cook County, Illinois Sheriff Tom Dart in March over its "erotic services" section. Since then, and with the added bad publicity of the so-called "Craigslist Killer," Craigslist has removed the older section, replacing it with a more heavily moderated "adult services" section.