BACKPAGE SERVERS SEIZED
Site notorious for child, sex trafficking
The Department of Justice seized the servers of online sex marketplace Backpage.com in part of an enforcement action involving the FBI, other federal agencies and attorneys general from Texas and California.
The notorious website reads: “Backpage.com and affiliated websites have been seized.”
The downfall of the online nerve center for sex trafficking prompted celebrations from victim advocates.
“It’s been a long time coming,” said Cherie Jimenez, a survivor of sex trafficking and founder of the EVA Center in Boston that aims to empower women who have been sexually exploited.
“This sends a clear message to any other website who thinks they are going to pick up where Backpage left off, that they too are going to be held accountable for profiting on the backs of vulnerable women,” Jimenez said. “This happened because people — a lot of people — put a lot of time in bringing attention to this issue.”
Last valued at half a billion dollars, Backpage operated in 97 countries and is involved in 73 percent of all child trafficking reports received by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. It is the world’s second-largest classified advertising website after Craigslist and brought in $135 million in annual revenue in 2014, according to The New York Times.
The site has so far evaded prosecution by claiming to fall under a 1996 law that gives broad immunity to websites that republish users’ content, according to a 2017 Senate committee report on Backpage. The report claims Backpage had long concealed evidence that it edited “adult” posts on its site and knowingly facilitated prostitution and child sex trafficking.
A federal judge in Boston last week ruled that a lawsuit against Backpage could continue because it was shown the site had edited an advertisement.
Backpage’s website loudly proclaims it and its affiliated websites have been seized, and the site is emblazoned with the seals of the FBI, the Justice Department, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the IRS and the Joint Regional Intelligence Center.
The Justice Department has not released additional information about the seizure, including whether charges had been filed against company executives.
Jimenez said she witnessed the explosion of the sex trade and attributes its rise largely to its migration online.
“The majority of women I see are being exploited online,” she said. “That’s contributed to this huge market and money being made off the backs of women.”
Classified site Craigslist shut down the personal advertisement section of its websites late last month after Congress passed a bill that would make it easier for people to sue websites that knowingly facilitate sex trafficking. The bill is currently waiting for President Trump’s signature.
‘This sends a clear message to any other website who thinks they are going to pick up where Backpage left off, that they too are going to be held accountable for profiting on the backs of vulnerable women.’ — CHERIE JIMENEZ, EVA Center founder