Already a subscriber? Log in to hide ads. The online ads site says it has safety measures in place to prevent child sex trafficking, but child advocates say it's the most popular site for pimps. March 20, , p. The Senate voted on Thursday to pursue civil contempt charges for Backpage, one of the country's largest classified ads sites, for refusing to appear at a child sex trafficking hearing in November and turn over requested business documents. As many as 71 percent of suspected child trafficking reports involved Backpage, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, making it a key player in officials' attempts to track pimps as they take victims off the streets and the web.
Web-based prostitution is easier for pimps to disguise, helping them evade law enforcement, but advocates believe the right precautions could make a significant dent in the trafficking business. CEO Carl Ferrer failed to appear at a November hearing before the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which had subpoened him to study whether Backpage's "moderation" safety protocols were sufficient to protect minors.
The Senate has not voted to authorize civil contempt proceedings since , during the investigation into sexual harrassment claims against Senator Bob Packwood R-OR. Packwood resigned in September The popular site has argued that, as the publisher of ads, it is protected under the First Amendment.
In , it blocked the implementation of a Washington state law to require that sites verify advertisers' age, claiming that it violated free speech and the Communications Decency Act of Backpage also claims to have protection procedures to screen out potential traffickers, but has refused to hand over all requested documents about those practices.
A report from the Senate Subcommittee alleges that Backpage edits some ad content, which "likely served to remove evidence of the illegality of the underlying transaction. Allen estimated that , minors per year are trafficked for sex, although the number could be much higher. More than half are runaways, homeless youth, and children kicked out of their homes, he said.
