The 20 Most Shocking Website Scandals in Online History

The internet is a wonderful resource and nigh-bottomless fountain of human knowledge and experience. It’s also a treacherous nest of vipers. Two sides of the same coin. Today, we’re looking at that second side.

Brace yourself for some of the most controversial website incidents of the new millennium…

Website Debauchery

Norwegian Sigurd Vedal’s “sugar daddy” website Rich Meet Beautiful encouraged young students to meet rich men who could pamper them in exchange for sexual favors.

A complaint by the Université Libre de Bruxelles forced Vedal to face charges of debauchery in Brussels’ criminal court.

Pedophiles on MySpace

During MySpace’s heyday, pedophiles started preying on underage users. Parents were understandably concerned. MySpace made adjustments to the site to restrict anonymous viewing of underage profiles, but the damage was done.

Parents all over the world were scared of pedophiles snooping around their children’s social media accounts. But it’s not that’s like they were the only social media platform to experience the same issue.

Adult Services on Craigslist

Craigslist gives users the chance to request sexual services from other users. Eventually, prostitution rings took advantage of the sites’ anonymity, making it more difficult for cops to do their jobs.

When the media got wind of this, the issue went mainstream. Eventually, the website shut down their infamous “casual encounters” personals section after years of robust use.

File-Sharing Shutdowns

Lobbying behemoth the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) targeted file-sharing sites like Napster and the Pirate Bay for helping users illegally transfer copyrighted material like music, TV shows and movies all over the world.

Peter Sunde, Fredrik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm, and Carl Lundstrom of the Pirate Bay were sent to prison for a year on top of being forced to pay out millions in damages to enormous entertainment-industry conglomerates.

Meanwhile, Napster’s Sean Parker went on to become president of Facebook.