After a torrent of legal threats and downbeat media reports, the San Francisco-based popular classifieds site Craigslist finally removed its contentious adult services listings late Friday. Craigslist, which initially had an Erotic Services section, succumbed to the pressure by law enforcement to shut it down in May last year.

With the Craigslist adult services listings going offline over the Labor Day weekend, the visitors to the site reported that a black bar having “censored” written in white letters was now appearing in place of the usual link to the listings.

In the opinion of law enforcement agencies, sexual ads on the Craigslist site were increasingly becoming a cause for concern because they apparently promoted prostitution and child trafficking, and even led to violence against women.

The most vociferous criticism of the Craigslist adult services section came from the Rebecca Project for Human Rights of Washington, D. C., which called for the removal of the section by placing ads in leading newspapers, including The Chronicle.

Among the other harsh criticism that Craigslist has faced included it being termed as an “online pimp” and the “Wal-Mart of online sex trafficking.”

In addition, an Illinois sheriff last year filed a lawsuit accusing the Craigslist owners of deliberately promoting and facilitating prostitution; while the South Carolina Attorney General threatened criminal action against the site.