Although it’s a legal document, the introduction to this report reads more like a tabloid, with “and child sex trafficking” tacked on everywhere to sensationalize things.
But here are the plain facts: Backpage.com intentionally facilitated adult prostitution, while attempting to avoid criminal liability for doing so. They also reported many thousands of child sex traffickers. It’s widely accepted that this was good for the adult prostitutes, since they no longer had to walk the streets and rely on violent pimps for protection.
As part of avoiding criminal liability, Backpage instituted a filter to remove a wide range of words from postings, for example “pay to play”, “full service”, etc. The allegation that they cooperated with child sex traffickers comes from the fact that this filter also included words like “teen” or “young”.
But on the whole, Backpage walked a difficult line between reporting any instances of child sex trafficking and continuing to give adult prostitutes a safe place to advertise.
These charges are primarily enforcing the ban on adult prostitution. The claim that Backpage was “cooperating” with child sex traffickers by filtering a wide range of words from postings is a pretty far reach, but it’s plastered all over this report in exaggerated terms. This is because many people realize that Backpage.com was beneficial to the safety of adult prostitutes, and legalizing prostitution would be more so.
But here are the plain facts: Backpage.com intentionally facilitated adult prostitution, while attempting to avoid criminal liability for doing so. They also reported many thousands of child sex traffickers. It’s widely accepted that this was good for the adult prostitutes, since they no longer had to walk the streets and rely on violent pimps for protection.
As part of avoiding criminal liability, Backpage instituted a filter to remove a wide range of words from postings, for example “pay to play”, “full service”, etc. The allegation that they cooperated with child sex traffickers comes from the fact that this filter also included words like “teen” or “young”.
But on the whole, Backpage walked a difficult line between reporting any instances of child sex trafficking and continuing to give adult prostitutes a safe place to advertise.
These charges are primarily enforcing the ban on adult prostitution. The claim that Backpage was “cooperating” with child sex traffickers by filtering a wide range of words from postings is a pretty far reach, but it’s plastered all over this report in exaggerated terms. This is because many people realize that Backpage.com was beneficial to the safety of adult prostitutes, and legalizing prostitution would be more so.