The Spanish government has warned that websites and newspapers advertising prostitution, escorts, or 'masseuse' services could be shut down or fined 100,000 euros after the Ministry of Consumer Affairs banned any promotion of prostitution in Spain, included in the General Law on Advertising, since October 7th last year.
That was the day when the provision of the 'only yes is yes' law came into force, which declared these advertisements illegal, and officials have now started warning several website administrators that if they do not immediately remove the advertising they will be sanctioned or closed down.
The Minister of Consumer Affairs, Alberto Garzón, has sent reminders to companies and websites warning them that advertising any of these services is illegal and that action will be taken if the content isn’t removed.
Around a third of these websites in Spain are from the same company, and most of them try to skirt around the issue by using the term 'escort' instead of 'prostitute'.
Newspapers have traditionally advertised ‘Personal Services’ in the back of their paper for decades, but this is also now illegal as any marketing of ‘prostitution’ services is prohibited in the whole of the territory of Spain.
