That's what Cook County Sheriff Thomas Dart is claiming as part of a federal lawsuit by the Illinois lawman. The lawsuit is seeking a ban on one part of Craigslist, namely the Erotic Services section, which is accused of acting as a clearing house for prostitution.

According to The Times Dart is arguing that Craigslist facilitates prostitution because it has not put into place any method to block those who blatantly offer sex for money.

Sheriff Dart, speaking at a press conference, insisted that "Craigslist is the single largest source of prostitution in the nation" and that "Missing children, runaways, abused women and women trafficked in from foreign countries are routinely forced to have sex with strangers because they're being pimped on Craigslist."

Dart claims to have given Craigslist every chance to clean up its act, and to have made many pleas for it to close the Erotic Services section, before resorting to the lawsuit which comes just four months after another lawsuit was settled promising to bring in new rules on the use of the site for prostitution services. The sheriff reckons that in just two years his department has made at least 200 arrests for juvenile pimping, human trafficking and other offences which have been linked to Craigslist in some way.

Craigslist is a hugely successful site, established in 1995 by Craig Newmark and now attracting half a billion visitors every month. A spokesperson told The Times that "...any misuse of the site is not tolerated on Craigslist."