Backpage.com Agrees to Suspend Adult Services Ads

"Today we announced the suspension of some limited areas of our Personals and Adult sections while we build up our safety defenses," Backpage said in a posting on its blog. "We also announced some significant steps we are taking to ensure that the content and images in the ads placed on our site is legal and in line with our terms of use."

Backpage also called for an industrywide task force to work with the attorneys general and child advocacy groups to develop "a holistic safety and security program."

The company said its security consultant, Hemanshu Nigam, was continuing to develop "strong defenses aginst those intent on placing illegal ads on our site."

• The review of all ads and images in the personals and adult sections of the site.

• The implementation of key word searches to quickly identify banned advertisements and inappropriate discussions.

• The significant increase in staff to quickly identify illegal ads.

• The implementation of roadblocks to prevent minors from accessing mature content.

• The implementation of dedicated tools on the site to educate users regarding online safety and security.

• The empowerment of users to report abuse and an expeditious process to handle user complaints.