AMTA supports a diverse and nurturing massage therapy community, working with integrity, honesty and dignity. Toward that end, we are continuing to research means to have Craigslist remove all advertising that links massage to illegal activity. This includes ongoing contacts with national, state and local law enforcement agencies.

Ads on Craigslist have been a problem for many years. In November 2008, 40 state attorneys general reached an agreement with the website owners to clean out prostitutes and posters of other illegal activity from service-oriented sections of the website. Craigslist has stated it is pursuing efforts to better screen postings and it has made some improvements.

Some members have asked what they should do if they see ads on Craigslist that make connections between massage therapy and behavior outside of AMTA's Code of Ethics and state laws. As a user of Craigslist, you can flag it and notify the company. In particular, you can look in the therapeutic section and flag anything that makes inappropriate connections to massage therapy. These individual points of contact with the company and continuing legal and public relations efforts by AMTA should help clean up this problem.

If you choose to advertise your practice on websites such as Craigslist, AMTA encourages you to carefully screen potential clients who find you through these services. And, remember it is recommended to meet new clients only in a location in which you feel secure.

Keep a safe practice.