Backpage.com Told To Halt 'Adult Section' Ads
DES MOINES, Iowa – Attorneys General from 21 states, including Iowa’s Tom Miller, asked operators of Backpage.com Tuesday to remove its adult services section because the online classified-ads website allegedly cannot adequately block potentially illegal ads promoting prostitution, sexual exploitation of children and human trafficking.
Miller said the call for Backpage to “immediately take down” its adult services section followed similar multi-state action taken by attorneys general against Craigslist. In that case, Craigslist appeared to have surrendered in a legal fight over erotic ads posted on its website, shutting down its adult services section earlier this month and replacing it with a black bar that simply says “censored.”
“Many of the ads now appearing on Backpage.com are nearly identical to the types of ads the public saw on Craiglist.org,” Miller told a news conference. “We’ve received reports that there are now ads on Backpage promoting prostitution here in Iowa, and there are reports emerging of ads promoting child exploitation and human trafficking in other states. Iowans didn’t tolerate these types of ads on Craigslist and won’t tolerate them on Backpage.”
Miller said it was feared that Backpage would become the leading “conduit” of blatant adult section advertisements following the action taken by Craigslist. He said Backpage officials implemented some changes in response to previous concerns raised by the attorneys general working group, but Miller said those efforts “have fallen short” and they are being asked to shut down the adult section altogether until they can better screen the postings.
In addition to Iowa, states calling on Backpage to close adult services are: Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.
A letter sent Tuesday by the 21 attorneys general to Backpage’s legal counsel acknowledged that the web-based company could face the prospect of losing revenue if it were to remove the adult services section.
“Still, no amount of money can justify the scourge of illegal prostitution, and the misery of women and children who will continue to be victimized in the marketplace provided by Backpage,” the attorneys general said in a letter to Chicago attorney Samuel Fifer.
According to Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, Backpage is expected to earn this year an estimated $17.5 million from prostitution ads and Craigslist $30 million.
“Websites should not profit from prostitution and exploitation of women and children — as Craigslist recently recognized and Backpage hopefully will,” said Blumenthal, who cited a recent study by the Advanced Interactive Media Group indicating that Craigslist and Backpage are two of the nation’s largest online classified ad websites and account for about $47.5 million of the $63 million in online prostitution ads expected this year.
“Adult services sections are little more than online brothels, enabling human trafficking and sexual exploitation of women and children,” Blumenthal said in a statement. “Because Backpage cannot properly police adult services, the section should be shut down immediately. Backpage has a moral — if not legal — obligation to purge ads that promote trafficking and sexual abuse of women and children.”
The attorneys general, in their letter, urged Backpage to take steps to prevent migration of prostitution ads into its personals section, including flagging and screening systems and manually reviewing all such ads.
Miller said the attorneys general planned to give the web site operators a reasonable amount of time to comply, but indicated that probably would not span more than one or two weeks. He also said the state attorneys general also are considering the option of seeking federal legislation to remove immunity provisions for online sites that allow them to provide adult section services.
A spokesman for Backpage.com did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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