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Hours after the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations released a report claiming that online classifieds website Backpage "knowingly concealed evidence of criminality by systematically editing its adult ads", Backpage shut down the U.S. adult advertising section of its site:
The online classified advertising site Backpage.com abruptly shut its "adult" section on Monday, yielding to a campaign by state and federal government officials to close a service they contend promotes prostitution and human trafficking. The unexpected move came hours after a U.S. Senate subcommittee released a report accusing Backpage of actively editing posts on the site to remove evidence of child sex trafficking.
In announcing its decision, Backpage said it was the victim of government censorship. Backpage attorneys said executives would appear at a subcommittee hearing on Tuesday, but would not testify.
U.S. Senators Rob Portman and Claire McCaskill, however, said their subcommittee found Backpage had been far more complicit in sex trafficking than previously known. "Backpage's response wasn't to deny what we said. It was to shut down their site," they said in a statement. "That's not 'censorship' — it's validation of our findings."
On the same day, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from three sex trafficking victims accusing Backpage of facilitating the exploitation of children. The Supreme Court let stand a lower court ruling that said Backpage is shielded from liability by federal law since the site's classified ads are posted by users.
Also at Washington Post, NBC, and USA Today.
Previously: Backpage's Dallas Offices Raided, CEO Charged With "Pimping"
"Pimping" Charges Against Backpage Executives Dismissed
California Attorney General Pursues New Charges Against Backpage CEO
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 12 2017, @03:58AM
Prostitution is not illegal under federal law, but you can't expect congress to be specific about federal law.
Child prostitution is however not legal, nor is human trafficking, depending on exactly what is happening.
Backpage wasn't convicted of a crime, issued a court injunction, or censored in any way. When Congress produces a report that says they might be complicit in child prostitution, they shut down rather than defend against the accusation.
I'm all in favor of innocent until proven guilty, but this seems more like cockroaches scurrying away from the light.
(Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Thursday January 12 2017, @04:07AM
They are continuing to fight various legal battles related to the adult section and they have won numerous times (see Supreme Court note in summary and on this story [soylentnews.org]). For all we know, the shutdown was done on the advice of their lawyers and is temporary (or they intend it to be temporary):
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Anal Pumpernickel on Thursday January 12 2017, @09:59PM
I'm all in favor of innocent until proven guilty, but [...]
But you're not. If you bully someone enough using the nearly unlimited resources of the government, they're eventually going to crack even if they have a lot of money; it's an obvious strategy to punish someone you hate who is not actually doing anything illegal. Even if they did give up, that's not proof of wrongdoing.