States Challenge Backpage.com Over Sex Trafficking

Attorneys general from 46 states want t online classified site Backpage.com to disclose information on its alleged attempts to remove sex trafficking advertising, especially that which could involve minors. 

In the past three years, there have been more than 50 cases in 22 states involving the trafficking or attempted trafficking of minors through the site, the AGs said.

In a letter to the site’s lawyers, the 46 attorneys general say that Backpage.com claims it has strict policies to prevent illegal activity. However, the attorneys general say they have found hundreds of ads on Backpage.com’s regional sites that are clearly for illegal services.

"It does not require forensic training to understand that these advertisements are for prostitution,” the attorneys general wrote.

The letter further claims that the hub for illegal sex ads is a magnet for those seeking to exploit minors. Additionally, the attorneys general reminded Backpage.com of a 2010 request from Cuccinelli and nearly two dozen attorneys general asking that the adult services site be voluntarily taken down.

“Traffickers who exploit runaways and other kids should not be given a tool that makes the process easier,” Virginia Attorney General Ken  Cuccinelli said. “The only way for Backpage.com to completely stop child sex trafficking on its site is to take down the adult services advertisements altogether and to monitor its pages so such posts do not pop up elsewhere on the site.”

Coercion of minors

Cuccinelli added that it is difficult to know whether the person advertised is being coerced, regardless of his or her age. In many cases involving trafficking on Backpage.com, law enforcement officials found that minors were, in fact, often coerced to appear in advertisements.

Prosecutors in Benton County, WA, are handling a case in which teen girls say they were threatened and extorted by two adults who marketed them on the site. One of the adults rented a hotel room and forced the girls to have sex with men responding to the online ads.

$1 and up

Backpage.com is owned by Village Voice Media, LLC. The multimedia company, which also owns 13 weekly newspapers in the United States, admits its involvement in advertising illegal services. In a meeting with staff at the Washington State attorney general’s office, Village Voice board member Don Moon readily acknowledged that prostitution ads appear on the site.

In a June 29 article published nationally by the Village Voice, the corporation criticized those concerned about child sex trafficking as “prohibitionists bent on ending the world’s oldest profession,” acknowledging that, as a seller of adults services ads, “Village Voice has a stake in this story.” Industry analysts suggest that Village Voice’s stake in adult services advertisements is worth about $22.7 million in annual revenue.

While Backpage.com has ramped up its effort to screen some ads for minors, the attorneys general involved in the letter believe that “Backpage.com sets a minimal bar for content review in an effort to temper public condemnation, while ensuring that the revenue spigot provided by prostitution advertising remains intact.”

Series of requests

The letter from Cuccinelli and the attorneys general makes a series of requests to Backpage.com, asking that the company willingly provide information in lieu of a subpoena. For example, to substantiate the claim that the company enforces policies to prevent illegal activity, the attorneys general asked that Backpage.com describe in detail its understanding of what precisely constitutes “illegal activity,” and whether advertisements for prostitution fall into that category.

The attorneys general also asked how many of the advertisements in the adult section submitted since Sept. 2010 were individually screened, how many were rejected, and how many were removed after being discovered to be for illegal services.