College Students Praise LinkedIn Banning Prostitutes

By Angela Son on May 17, 2013

At the news of LinkedIn banning prostitutes, college students at Uloop were disappointed to find out their professional networking website is even more boring than they had imagined.

Last Tuesday, LinkedIn updated its user agreement to reflect the explicit prohibition of prostitution, the oldest profession in history.  According to the updated agreement, users must not:

2.8.i. Even if it is legal where you are located, create profiles or provide content that promotes escort services or prostitution.

Incongruous to Linkedin banning prostitutes, prostitution is one of the billion job skills that can be endorsed on LinkedIn.  (Although it has been endorsed for the religious affiliated and social workers, suggesting they work with registered sex offenders)

A recent University of Michigan graduate who did not wish to reveal his name said he was unaware that professional prostitutes use LinkedIn for work until the news on its updated user agreement.

“It’s a little desperate,” the Michigan graduate said.

A current student at Ohio State University who did not wish to reveal her name pointed out the LinkedIn public profiles of the homeless living off the suspended coffee from local coffee shops should also be banned.

“In addition to prostitutes, the homeless is an unprofessional job that does not meet the LinkedIn’s prestige,” the Ohio State student said.

Courtesy of Huffington Post

While the previous user agreement has still prohibited “unlawful” activities, a LinkedIn representative said during an interview with Mashable that the changes in LinkedIn banning prostitutes now reflect both legal and illegal prostitutes.

“In the old [user agreement], we had it covered by saying that one could not use a profile to promote anything ‘unlawful.’ However, in some countries, that activity actually is lawful,” the representative said.

The prostitution laws vary substantially around the world. Some countries offer legalized, regulated prostitution in limited places, such as the 11 Nevada counties in the United States.

Original image courtesy of Betabeat

Many college students acclaimed LinkedIn banning prostitutes from using the site speculating that LinkedIn is making an “a priori move” to avoid the notoriety Craigslist has been suffering from its “adult services” section, which was removed in September of 2010.

On LinkedIn, unlike on Craigslist, anonymity is virtually nonexistent, which means the prostitutes’ names and location are identifiable on site. This invites the idea that no illegal prostitutes would create a public profile on site; why would prostitutes who are not lawfully registered take the risk of advertising their services online?

Instead of realizing that no illegal prostitutes in their right mind would create a profile on LinkedIn, LinkedIn prohibited all prostitutes and escort service providers.

By LinkedIn banning prostitutes, it not only benefits the company’s brand image, but also informs the public that prostitution is a professional profession unworthy of partaking in the company’s prestigious networking site.

With the revised user agreement, LinkedIn also hopes to become a more viable and welcoming environment for college students who use the site to land their first job.

Professional prostitutes, infuriated by the recent changes in LinkedIn’s user agreement, are said to have created a professional networking website called LickedIt, which allows promotion and solicitation of all nude, full body massage services.

Follow Uloop

Apply to Write for Uloop News

Join the Uloop News Team

Discuss This Article

Get Top Stories Delivered Weekly

Back to Top

Log In

Contact Us

Upload An Image

Please select an image to upload
Note: must be in .png, .gif or .jpg format
OR
Provide URL where image can be downloaded
Note: must be in .png, .gif or .jpg format

By clicking this button,
you agree to the terms of use

By clicking "Create Alert" I agree to the Uloop Terms of Use.

Image not available.

Add a Photo

Please select a photo to upload
Note: must be in .png, .gif or .jpg format