Attorneys General Condemn Backpage As Sex Trafficking Hub

Calling Backpage.com a sex trafficking "hub," a coalition of state attorneys general is asking Village Voice Media to answer a host of pointed questions about "adult services" ads on the site.

"While Backpage.com professes to have undertaken efforts to limit advertisements for prostitution on its Web site, particularly those soliciting sex with children, such efforts have proven ineffective," the National Association of Attorneys General states in a letter to Backpage.com counsel Samuel Fifer.

The attorneys general state that since 2008, at least 50 cases have been brought related to the trafficking of minors on Backpage.com. "These cases often involve runaways ensnared by adults seeking to make money by sexually exploiting them," the letter states. "In some cases, minors are pictured in advertisements. In others, adults are pictured but minors are substituted at the "point of sale" in a grossly illegal transaction."

Backpage.com says on its site that it doesn't allow illegal ads. The attorneys general are now asking the company to back up this claim by answering detailed questions about its policies, including how the company determines which ads are illegal and how many ads were removed in the last year.

The law enforcement officials' letter, dated Wednesday, also praised Craigslist for discontinuing its adult services ads last year.

Despite the ongoing pressure by law enforcement, courts have held in separate cases that the federal Communications Decency Act immunizes Backpage.com and Craigslist from liability for illegal ads created by users. That statute says that sites are not responsible when users post illegal content. There's an exception for content that violates federal criminal laws, but courts have held that exception only applies to cases brought by federal prosecutors.

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