Ashley Madison is an online dating service and social networking service marketed to people who are already in a relationship, whose slogan is "Life is short. Have an affair." The website was launched in 2001. The name of the site was created from two popular female names, "Ashley" and "Madison". According to third-party web analytics provider SimilarWeb, the site has over 124 million visits per month, as of 2015, and is ranked #18 among Adult sites.Ashley Madison is a membership website and service based in Canada; its supposed membership of over 22 million members[1] come from 30 countries. The company announced plans to launch in Singapore in 2014. However, the Singapore's Media Development Authority (MDA) announced that it will not allow Ashley Madison to operate in Singapore as it promotes adultery and disregards family values. On July 15, 2015, the site was hacked, with the hackers stealing personal information about the site's users, and threatening to release the information if the site did not shut down.
In response to the ban in Singapore, CEO Noel Biderman told online tech publication e27 that he thinks prohibitions will always backfire. He said, "It’s not too conservative, it’s not too challenging. I think this is a anomaly. We have had success in Japan and Hong Kong. We will have success in Taiwan and Korea. We will find a way to bring this to the Philippines and Thailand. And ultimately, I genuinely believe Ashley Madison will be available to anyone in Singapore who wants to access it. I really believe that."
In 2012, the company was sued by former employee Doriana Silva, who stated that in preparation for the launch of the company's Portuguese-language website, she was assigned to create over a thousand bogus member profiles within a three-week period in order to attract paying customers, and that this caused her to develop repetitive stress injury. The lawsuit claimed that as a result Doriana "developed severe pain in her wrists and forearms", and has been unable to work since 2011.
Ashley Madison countersued, alleging fraud. The company claimed that Doriana Silva had been photographed skiing, an activity that was unlikely for someone who had suffered serious injury to the hands and forearms.[30] Ashley Madison later alleged further that Doriana Silva had kept confidential documents and sought to retrieve them. In 2015, the Ontario Superior Court dismissed the case without costs, a result that Avi Weisman, vice-president and general counsel for Ashley Madison’s parent company Avid Life Media, said the company was "very pleased" with.
