What Do AM & EM Mean in The Ashley Madison Documentary? How The Terms Relate To Their Controversial Sister Site

What does EM mean in Ashley Madison?

EM stands for Established Men, a site which is owned by the same company as Ashley Madison. Established Men is a dating site that is geared towards older men who are rich and are looking for younger women.

Though they were both owned by Avid Life Media, the hackers didn’t target CougarLife, another sister site run by ALM that promises to connect older women with younger men. The hackers went on with their plan when the media company failed to shut down the two sites.

“Avid Life Media has failed to take down Ashley Madison and Established Men,” The Impact Team wrote in a statement. “We have explained the fraud, deceit, and stupidity of ALM and their members. Now everyone gets to see their data…. Keep in mind the site is a scam with thousands of fake female profiles. See ashley madison fake profile lawsuit; 90-95% of actual users are male. Chances are your man signed up on the world’s biggest affair site, but never had one. He just tried to. If that distinction matters.”

What does AM mean in Ashley Madison?

AM, of course, means Ashley Madison in the documentary Ashley Madison: Sex, Lies & Scandal. It’s one way to abbreviate the site according to the hackers.

A group or a singular person was responsible for the hack and sent messages to Avid Life Media to shut down Ashley Madison. “We are the Impact Team. We have taken over all systems in the entire office and production domains, all customer information databases, source code repositories, financial records, emails,” the message said. “Shutting down AM and EM will cost you, but non-compliance will cost you more. We will release all customer records, profiles with all customers’ secret sexual fantasies, nude pictures, and conversations and matching credit card transactions, real names and addresses, and employee documents and emails.”

AM is also a way for users on the site to know that another user is a paying customer. They will have a pink AM badge on their profile if they are a premium-paying member.

Do Ashley Madison and Established Men still exist today?

Yes, both sites are still running after the hack. Ashley Madison still runs under the line “Life is short. Have an affair” while Established Men is still “Connecting young, beautiful women with interesting men.” However, it doesn’t seem like Ashley Madison’s parent company is advertising Established Men anymore on their website.

Shortly after the hack, CEO Noel Biderman stepped down and Avid Life Media rebranded to Ruby. Rob Segal replaced Biderman. “We like that Ruby has a sensual, feminine quality, connotes value and fits with the fresh start our company is undergoing,” President James Millership said in a statement via CBC.

“It’s a new day at Ruby and renaming … is an important step in our journey to completely rebuild the company as a relevant, digital dating innovator that truly cares for our customers,” Segal added. “The company is truly sorry for how people’s lives and relationships may have been affected by the criminal theft of personal information. That’s why we’re charting a new course and making some big changes.”

As for the hackers, they’ve never been found. “It’s a fascinating aspect of the whole story,” Toby Paton, the Netflix series director said about the hacker’s identity to The New York Post. “The cyber expert that we speak to said it’s extremely unusual to have a sophisticated and high-profile [hack] and have the person who did it have never done anything before and never do anything since. It really seemed like it was a one-off.”