HARRISBURG – Attorney General Linda Kelly has joined 45 other Attorneys General in demanding information from Backpage.com, an online classified site, about how the website plans to remove advertising for sex trafficking, especially ads that could involve minors.
Kelly said that Backpage.com is owned by Village Voice Media, LLC, and is the top provider of “adult services” advertisements. The multimedia company is worth an estimated $22.7 million in annual adult services advertisement revenue.
In September 2010, 21 attorneys general wrote Backpage.com to request that the adult services section be closed.
Kelly said that Backpage.com claims it has strict policies in place to prevent illegal activity from occurring on their website. However, hundreds of ads for illegal services such as prostitution services, escort services and human trafficking have been found on the website.
“It does not require forensic training to understand that these advertisements are for prostitution,” the attorneys general wrote in a letter to the website’s lawyers.
The letter cites the hub for illegal sex ads as a magnet for those seeking to exploit minors and points to more than 50 cases, in 22 states, over three years, involving the trafficking or attempted trafficking of minors through backpage.com.
Kelly said that in many cases involving human trafficking on Backpage.com, law enforcement believes that minors are, in fact, often coerced. These cases often involve runaways ensnared by adults seeking to make money by sexually exploiting them.
The state attorneys general believe that Backpage.com is attempting to minimize the impact of child sex trafficking because they fear it will turn attention to the company’s robust prostitution advertising business.
Kelly said that while Backpage.com has ramped up its effort to screen some ads for minors, the company sets a minimal bar for content review hoping to temper public condemnation, while ensuring that the revenue stream provided by prostitution advertising remains intact.
The letter from the attorneys general makes a series of requests to Backpage.com, asking that the company willingly provide information in lieu of a subpoena. The attorneys general also ask Backpage.com to:
. Describe in detail its understanding of what precisely constitutes “illegal activity,”
. Describe in detail whether they feel advertisements for prostitution fall into the category of “illegal activity.
. Provide a copy of such policies, including but not limited to the specific criteria used to determine whether an advertisement may involve illegal activity.
. Provide a list of the prohibited terms for which they are screening.
. Describe in detail the individualized or hand review process undertaken, including the number of personnel currently assigned to review advertisements.
. State the number of advertisements in its adult section, including all subsections, submitted since Sept. 1, 2010.
. State the number of advertisements, in its adult section, including all subsections, submitted since Sept. 1, 2010 that were subjected to individualized or hand review prior to publication.
. State the number of advertisements in its adult section, including all subsections, submitted since Sept. 1, 2010, rejected prior to publication because they involved or were suspected to involve illegal activity.
Kelly noted that in 2008, 42 attorneys general reached an agreement with Craigslist to crack down on illegal listings, in an effort to reduce crimes like human trafficking. Craigslist ultimately removed its “erotic services” section altogether in May 2009.
The states signing today’ s letter to Backpage.com are Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wyoming and the territory of Guam.