U.S. law enforcement agencies have seized the sex marketplace
website Backpage.com as part of an enforcement action by the
Federal Bureau of Investigation, according to a posting on the
Backpage website on Friday.
A Phoenix FBI official said that there was “law enforcement
activity” on Friday at the Sedona, Arizona home of Michael Lacey,
one of the founders of Backpage.
Glenn Milnor, FBI Special Agent and Media Coordinator, referred
further inquiries to the Department of Justice.
The Department of Justice will provide more information at 6
p.m. EDT (1000 GMT), according to the website posting, which said
U.S. attorneys in Arizona and California, as well as the Justice
Department’s section on child exploitation and obscenity and the
California and Texas attorneys general had supported shutting down
the website.
Lawmakers and enforcement officials have been working to crack
down on the site, which is used primarily to sell sex and is the
second largest classified ad service in the country after
Craigslist.
Backpage and advocacy groups have argued that the ads are free
speech protected by the U.S. Constitution.
The U.S. Senate passed legislation last month making it easier
for state prosecutors and sex-trafficking victims to sue social
media networks, advertisers and others that fail to keep sex
trafficking and other exploitative materials off their
platforms.
Launched in 2004, Backpage has affiliates across the country and
around the world, and by 2014 brought in annual revenue of $135
million, the New York Times has reported.
The Supreme Court in January 2017 refused to consider reviving a
lawsuit against Backpage.com filed by three young women alleging
the site facilitated their forced prostitution. But the site has
since then faced a slew of other lawsuits alleging child sex
trafficking.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has told
Congress that nearly three quarters of the cases submitted to the
center relate to ads posted on the site. The state of California
has said that 90 percent of the site’s income were attributable to
“adult ads.”
At the end of 2016, Texas and California attorneys general
raided the company’s Dallas headquarters and arrested chief
executive Carl Ferrer and other former company executives on
pimping-related charges. But the judge in the case ruled that the
site was protected by the First Amendment, and the site should not
be liable for the speech of third parties.
The states’ attorney generals did not immediately comment on
Friday’s seizure.
Reuters
U.S. law enforcement agencies have seized the sex marketplace
website Backpage.com as part of an enforcement action by the
Federal Bureau of Investigation, according to a posting on the
Backpage website on Friday.
A Phoenix FBI official said that there was “law enforcement
activity” on Friday at the Sedona, Arizona home of Michael Lacey,
one of the founders of Backpage.
Glenn Milnor, FBI Special Agent and Media Coordinator, referred
further inquiries to the Department of Justice.
The Department of Justice will provide more information at 6
p.m. EDT (1000 GMT), according to the website posting, which said
U.S. attorneys in Arizona and California, as well as the Justice
Department’s section on child exploitation and obscenity and the
California and Texas attorneys general had supported shutting down
the website.
Lawmakers and enforcement officials have been working to crack
down on the site, which is used primarily to sell sex and is the
second largest classified ad service in the country after
Craigslist.
Backpage and advocacy groups have argued that the ads are free
speech protected by the U.S. Constitution.
The U.S. Senate passed legislation last month making it easier
for state prosecutors and sex-trafficking victims to sue social
media networks, advertisers and others that fail to keep sex
trafficking and other exploitative materials off their
platforms.
Launched in 2004, Backpage has affiliates across the country and
around the world, and by 2014 brought in annual revenue of $135
million, the New York Times has reported.
The Supreme Court in January 2017 refused to consider reviving a
lawsuit against Backpage.com filed by three young women alleging
the site facilitated their forced prostitution. But the site has
since then faced a slew of other lawsuits alleging child sex
trafficking.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has told
Congress that nearly three quarters of the cases submitted to the
center relate to ads posted on the site. The state of California
has said that 90 percent of the site’s income were attributable to
“adult ads.”
At the end of 2016, Texas and California attorneys general
raided the company’s Dallas headquarters and arrested chief
executive Carl Ferrer and other former company executives on
pimping-related charges. But the judge in the case ruled that the
site was protected by the First Amendment, and the site should not
be liable for the speech of third parties.
The states’ attorney generals did not immediately comment on
Friday’s seizure.
Reuters
Read more https://nairalaw.com/sex-ads-website-backpage-com-seized-by-u-s-authorities-posting/