Backpage is a classified advertising website. It offers a wide variety of classified listings including automotive, jobs listings, and real estate. Backpage is the second largest classified ad listing service on the Internet in the United States after Craigslist.
Backpage is a classified advertising website launched in 2004. Up until its seizure by U.S. authorities in April 2018, it offered classified listings for a wide variety of products and services including automotive, jobs listings, and real estate. In 2011, Backpage was the second largest classified ad listing service on the Internet in the United States after Craigslist.
Backpage contains a section for listing "adult entertainment" services. Although it officially prohibits illegal services including prostitution, the site still contains listings explicitly for sex.
Backpage's sexual content offerings increased after sellers migrated to the site when Craigslist removed its adult services section in 2010.
Content submitted to Backpage is surveyed by an automated scan for terms related to prostitution. At least one member of a team of around 100 people also oversees each entry before it is posted. Each month the team finds around 400 ads offering potentially underage sex. These are sent to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children which in turn alerts law enforcement. Potentially illegal ads are not removed and the team does not attempt to identify whether the subjects of the listings are participating of their own free will.
The general counsel for National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has said, “Backpage’s reporting is not conducted in good faith.” She further pointed out that the service does not remove ads when parents report their children are being sold on the site.
Fifty known incidences of child sexual services being sold on the site have been recorded as of May 2011. One attorney said that Backpage was involved in the majority of trafficking or prostitution cases he had seen.
Backpage's listing of sex-related ads has prompted several advocacy groups and companies to pressure the site to remove those listings. Companies H&M, IKEA, and Barnes & Noble canceled ads for publications owned by then-Backpage owner Village Voice Media.
Over 230,000 people including 600 religious leaders, 51 attorneys general, 19 U.S. senators, over 50 non-governmental associations, musician Alicia Keys, and members of R.E.M., The Roots, and Alabama Shakes have petitioned the website to remove sexual content.
In 2012, Backpage owners Village Voice Media separated their newspaper company from Backpage, leaving it in control of shareholders Mike Lacey and Jim Larkin. The CEO of the new newspaper group said "Backpage has been a distraction—there's no question about it—to the core (editorial) properties".
Liz McDougall, an attorney serving as general counsel for former owners Village Voice Media said that Backpage is an "ally in the fight against human trafficking". She said that the adult services section of Backpage is closely monitored, and that shutting it down "would simply drive the trafficking underground". McDougall said that websites like Backpage who are able to monitor trafficking activity and report it to law enforcement are key in the fight against human trafficking.
McDougall said that shutting down the service on a cooperative United States–based website would only drive trafficking to underground and international websites that are more difficult to monitor, and are often outside the jurisdiction of U.S. law enforcement.
In March 2012, Washington enacted a law (SB 6251) which sought to negate the immunity afforded by 47 USC 230 to online providers of third-party content.[8] The law would have made providers of third-party online content criminally liable for any crimes related to a minor committed in Washington State.
In June of that same year, Backpage.com and the Electronic Frontier Foundation on behalf of the Internet Archive filed a motion against Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna on the grounds that SB 6251 violated the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution, section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, and First and Fifth Amendments.
Later that month, United States District Judge Ricardo Martinez, granted Backpage a temporary restraining order pending the outcome of the suit on the grounds that Backpage was likely to win its case against McKenna. The case ended the following month when Judge Martinez decided that Backpage and the Internet Archive were to be awarded permanent injunctive relief and $200,000 in attorney's fees from the Office of the Attorney General.
Backpage Seizure
Backpage is a classified advertising website launched in 2004. Up until its seizure by U.S. authorities in April 2018, it offered classified listings for a wide variety of products and services including automotive, jobs listings, and real estate. In 2011, Backpage was the second largest classified ad listing service on the Internet in the United States after Craigslist.
Adult services
Backpage contains a section for listing "adult entertainment" services. Although it officially prohibits illegal services including prostitution, the site still contains listings explicitly for sex.
Backpage's sexual content offerings increased after sellers migrated to the site when Craigslist removed its adult services section in 2010.
Content submitted to Backpage is surveyed by an automated scan for terms related to prostitution. At least one member of a team of around 100 people also oversees each entry before it is posted. Each month the team finds around 400 ads offering potentially underage sex. These are sent to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children which in turn alerts law enforcement. Potentially illegal ads are not removed and the team does not attempt to identify whether the subjects of the listings are participating of their own free will.
The general counsel for National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has said, “Backpage’s reporting is not conducted in good faith.” She further pointed out that the service does not remove ads when parents report their children are being sold on the site.
Fifty known incidences of child sexual services being sold on the site have been recorded as of May 2011. One attorney said that Backpage was involved in the majority of trafficking or prostitution cases he had seen.
Backpage's listing of sex-related ads has prompted several advocacy groups and companies to pressure the site to remove those listings. Companies H&M, IKEA, and Barnes & Noble canceled ads for publications owned by then-Backpage owner Village Voice Media.
Over 230,000 people including 600 religious leaders, 51 attorneys general, 19 U.S. senators, over 50 non-governmental associations, musician Alicia Keys, and members of R.E.M., The Roots, and Alabama Shakes have petitioned the website to remove sexual content.
In 2012, Backpage owners Village Voice Media separated their newspaper company from Backpage, leaving it in control of shareholders Mike Lacey and Jim Larkin. The CEO of the new newspaper group said "Backpage has been a distraction—there's no question about it—to the core (editorial) properties".
Response from Backpage
Liz McDougall, an attorney serving as general counsel for former owners Village Voice Media said that Backpage is an "ally in the fight against human trafficking". She said that the adult services section of Backpage is closely monitored, and that shutting it down "would simply drive the trafficking underground". McDougall said that websites like Backpage who are able to monitor trafficking activity and report it to law enforcement are key in the fight against human trafficking.
McDougall said that shutting down the service on a cooperative United States–based website would only drive trafficking to underground and international websites that are more difficult to monitor, and are often outside the jurisdiction of U.S. law enforcement.
Backpage.com v. McKenna, et al.
In March 2012, Washington enacted a law (SB 6251) which sought to negate the immunity afforded by 47 USC 230 to online providers of third-party content.[8] The law would have made providers of third-party online content criminally liable for any crimes related to a minor committed in Washington State.
In June of that same year, Backpage.com and the Electronic Frontier Foundation on behalf of the Internet Archive filed a motion against Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna on the grounds that SB 6251 violated the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution, section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, and First and Fifth Amendments.
Later that month, United States District Judge Ricardo Martinez, granted Backpage a temporary restraining order pending the outcome of the suit on the grounds that Backpage was likely to win its case against McKenna. The case ended the following month when Judge Martinez decided that Backpage and the Internet Archive were to be awarded permanent injunctive relief and $200,000 in attorney's fees from the Office of the Attorney General.
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