UPDATED 08:50 EDT / MAY 15 2013

NEWS

No More Whoring: LinkedIn Bans Professional Escorts

LinkedIn claims to connect the world’s professionals and help them to further their career success, but for those with one particular type of skill set, there’ll be no more naughty business taking place within its confines.

The world’s biggest professional networking site, which boasts more than 220 million users, has decided to ban prostitutes and escorts from promoting their services. The change came when LinkedIn updated its user agreement, which now states that, “even if it is legal where you are located, [users cannot] create profiles or provide content that promotes escort services or prostitution.”

LinkedIn hasn’t given any particular reason for the ban, but we should note that “unlawful” profiles have always been prohibited on the site. Even so, that hasn’t stopped hundreds of escorts from using the site to promote their particular brand of ‘expertise’. A quick search on the site throws up dozens of ‘professionals’ offering escort services, massages and other naughty services. In addition, “prostitution” is an actual skill that users can list on their profile (and have endorsed by other users), but while the majority of them seem to be working for law enforcement or charity organizations, quite a few seem to be ‘genuine’ escorts, such as the company below:

The change to its user agreement seems to indicate that LinkedIn is going to start clamping down on adult entertainment, but there’s few signs of it just yet. For example, a simple search for “escorts” reveals the full extent of services that can be found on the site, prompting users to refine their search with terms like “female escorts”, “call girls”, “hot girls”, “independent escorts”, “Dubai escorts” and so on.

Unsurprisingly, the changes are not proving too popular with individuals that use the site to connect with their clients. Dennis Hof, who owns a number of legal brothels in Nevada, including the Moonlite Bunny Ranch, told NBC that the changes were unfair because his businesses break no laws:

“What’s the problem? We have a license to do this stuff. Our business is as legal as theirs. We’re the good guys, we have no reason to be knocked off.”


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