About MassageRepublic:
The purpose of MassageRepublic.com is to assist service providers in establishing a connection with their audience and providing visitors with responsible service.
They focus on a few of the “little things” that have a big impact. The majority of that was done in the background to optimize certain operations. The way that search results are presented has been enhanced, and a new area called “What’s happening” allows visitors to browse the most recent inquiries, listings, and reviews for a given city. Additionally, they made some adjustments to improve the website’s mobile usability. While there is still room for improvement, this is a positive start.
They’ve generated over half a million of what they call ‘contact actions’—users sending messages, clicking to view phone numbers, or browsing through to advertiser websites—since their February launch, and they celebrated this milestone last month with their advertisers. They understand that it might be challenging for service providers to assess the effectiveness of their marketing, which is why we are providing each advertiser with a report each month.
In a blog published on the website, they appreciate all of the positive feedback they received straight from some of you and work hard to bring something new and improved for providers.
Campaign Against Fake Photos:
The fact that too many advertisers utilize images of people that don’t accurately portray the person on a listing is one of the main grievances raised by site users. Advertisers have also complained that it’s unfair for someone else to use pictures from prominent actors or models in their photo shoots. This is certainly not a good scenario to be in for Massage Republic to deliver results for ads and helpful service to users.
We have implemented a new procedure for handling phony images within the past few weeks. This is now active, and we will be actively reviewing listings and analyzing them in conjunction with all of our user reports within the coming weeks.
This implies that advertisements from advertisers that upload phony images will be removed, and accounts from repeat offenders will also be blocked. On their blog, they mentioned ‘You’ve been alerted!’ to everyone who misuses the photos.
The site has received numerous complaints from users regarding phony photographs (thank you for reporting them!). They recently included a function that allows marketers to authenticate their photographs because they recognize how serious this issue is. You can access it from your listings page. We know this will pay for itself very soon because it takes time to process requests, which is why this is a subscription service. However, you do receive priority in the listings, whether they are basic or premium.
They also unveiled a brand-new picture gallery. Users will be able to view your photographs more clearly on mobile devices in addition to looking better on traditional browsers.
Offering Help In Sri Lanka:
Many individuals in Sri Lanka began to escape poverty as the country emerged from a civil war that lasted for decades. The website promised to assist Sri Lankan girls. They said that for the past few years, they have been providing support to a Sri Lankan charity that watches out for women and girls in danger. They’ll check to see if we can provide extra assistance there or in other areas.
They also said that they have lowered their Colombo advertising rates by 40% because they knew that our paying advertisers may also be negatively impacted.
They stated, “We are still committed to offering all sponsors a free service; we are aware that in the past several months, this has resulted in hundreds of requests for them. An advertiser is one cent closer to a better life for every cent they don’t have to pay a middleman or prostitute.”
Closing Down Of MassageRepublic:
This week, a well-known sex-listed website announced that it was closing down its operations in the US, citing the possibility that legal challenges would not succeed in overturning a historic set of federal sex trafficking legislation that Congress had passed a year prior.
In a statement, the MassageRepublic site mentioned,
“Statement: This website has not charged any advertiser or user money since FOSTA/SESTA, nor has it received any other payments or benefits related to any activity in the US. During that time, we anticipated incurring significant expenses to maintain our service, including moderating listings, assisting advertisers and users, and paying for bandwidth and hosting.
We continued to provide our services to advertising so they might continue to enjoy their constitutionally guaranteed right to free speech and to save money by, for example, avoiding enriching middlemen.
People in stable financial situations as well as those approaching or living in poverty are among those who advertise their services on the platform. Certain marketers have informed us that we assisted them in moving “to a better place.”
Our request to “please carry on and don’t stop the site” has been made by many others. Regretfully, we are aware that any advertiser who is already struggling to survive will have their situation worsened if services are suspended in the US. We doubt that most US residents would support the bill, nor that many legislators who voted in favor of it understood its implications in practice.”
The latest evidence that the FOSTA-SESTA, or the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act and Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act, have made it harder for websites that sell sex to exist in an environment where their risks are higher is the choice made by MassageRepublic.com. “When one of these sites goes down, it usually motivates other sites to follow suit,” stated Rob Spectre, CEO of Childsafe.AI, a technology business that combats child trafficking. “It’s an additional indication of the instability in this market – there are going to be some wild swings ahead this year.”
Days after federal law enforcement officers seized Backpage.com, the leading player in the online prostitution industry at the time, as part of a U.S. Justice Department investigation into child prostitution and sex trafficking, President Donald Trump signed the bipartisan FOSTA-SESTA into law. A 93-count indictment accused seven individuals, including the website’s founders, of aiding prostitution, money laundering, and fraud. CEO of Backpage Carl Ferrer entered a guilty plea to state and federal charges, consenting to assist with the legal proceedings and shutting down the website.
The owners of MassageRepublic.com explained their decision in a blog post, saying, “In the current environment, we are not sure that the challenges… to this dumb law will succeed, so have no choice but to suspend service.” “Since FOSTA/SESTA, this site has not billed a single dollar to any advertiser or user, nor has it received any other financial income or benefit based on any activity in the US,” said MassageRepublic.
MassageRepublic did not immediately answer an interview request. Experts claim that males who wish to purchase sex online now face significantly greater challenges as a result of the crackdown.
Sex Workers’ Perspective:
Advocates for sex workers have sharply condemned FOSTA-SESTA, claiming that removing Backpage and related websites would force prostitution even further underground or into the streets. Proponents of free speech argue that the restrictions force website owners to regulate material unconstitutionally. In a blog post, MassageRepublic stated that human trafficking and child exploitation—rather than buying sex services online—were the primary reasons behind the new rule.
“We have processes in place for recognizing this type of behavior, stop listings of such conduct, and never got an inquiry for the U.S. about anything like this,” it stated.
