Backpage.com Scandal Makes Unlikely Allies

Don't tell the Tea Party he hangs out with Mike McGinn. Photo courtesy of KOMO

This summer, Mayor McGinn began a crusade against the online classifieds service Backpage.com (owned by Village Voice Media, parent company of, among others, the Seattle Weekly). According to McGinn and a national network of anti-human trafficking activists, the "adult" section of the site is a frequent conduit for coercive underage prostitution. Though some of the campaigners' facts are in dispute, it's undeniably true that Backpage requires less proof of an adult advertiser's age than comparable sites, and that the site has cropped up in investigations of child prostitution. In June, the Mayor demanded that the site reform these practices, and help police curb the online trafficking of children.

In light of those business practices, it's perhaps surprising that Village Voice Media has responded to McGinn's pressure by digging in and refusing to make changes. They've even taken the unusual step of employing the company's editorial pages to defend Backpage's management. When a politician suffering from sagging poll numbers stumbles into a winning issue, he'd be a fool not to charge into it head-on, and that's exactly what Mayor McGinn has done. With his own overtures rebuffed, McGinn has been busy recruiting other public officials to the cause. It probably didn't take much convincing to enlist the help of another Washington politician with electability on his mind: Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate Rob McKenna. McKenna was one of 45 Attorneys-General who signed on to a detailed questionnaire sent to Backpage's management, demanding answers about the site's policies and business practices, and none-too-subtly hinting at possible legal action. Citing free speech concerns, the company refused to comply. McKenna responded by releasing the questionnaire to the public, and lambasting the company: "Prostitution disproportionately harms kids, runaways and former victims of child sexual abuse. It’s unfortunate that businesses like Backpage.com profit from that kind of exploitation." He also called for Village Voice Media to shut down the adult section of the site.

It's worth noting that certain kinds of speech are, indeed, criminal and not protected by the Constitution. Advertisements for an illegal service, such as prostitution, certainly fall into that category.

It's easy to see why politicians like McGinn and McKenna keep up the fight: in the world of politics, it's not often that one can so easily do genuine good and cast himself as the defender of abused children from a greedy corporation. Less clear is why Village Voice Media continues to resist reform with such tenacity. Backpage's adult section represents a tiny fraction of the media juggernaut's business. Perhaps we've finally found a modern American corporation willing to risk its bottom line out of moral conviction, but what a bizarre cause on which to make a stand.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@seattlest.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Everett Rummage in News on September 28, 2011 4:30 PM

Comments [rss]

staceyd5

Have you signed the petition to decriminalize sex work?

Please take a few moments to register &
sign this petition to decriminalize sex work: http://wh.gov/45S

Thank you in advance.

Norma Jean Almodovar

Neither Seatlle's mayor or the States Attorneys General give a darn about the saving the "children..." do you really believe that THEY believe that shutting down adult ads is going to somehow stop human trafficking? Surely you don't believe that they are so naïve, do you? Having been lawyers before they became prosecutors, they know exactly how things work and that prostitution was around long before the internet and will be around long after the internet shuts the sex workers out (or moves them to other websites). These politicians feign concern for the sexual exploitation of underage persons through the use of adult ads, commenting in their letter to backpage.com that “More than 50 cases of trafficking or attempted trafficking of minors on Backpage.com have been filed in 22 states in the past three years...” But none of them mention that in 2011 alone, more than 100 cases of pedophile and child porn possessing police/ district attorneys/ judges were brought to court... (a list of these can be found here: http://www.policeprostitutiona... ) NONE of those cases involved backpage.com or craigslist or any other classified website offering adult ads - just a bunch of perverted cops, judges, FBI agents etc. who had access to these young people because they are persons in authority whom no one suspects of diddling their children. These numbers do not include the teachers, preachers, priests, boy scout leaders, Hollywood producers and other persons who are trusted by the community and who do not find their victims on backpage.com. The US Government reports that 90% of the cases of child sexual exploitation are at the hands of someone the child knows, like the above cops, teachers, etc. and 68% of the cases of child sexual abuse are at the hands of a family member. The US Government’s own report says that these hundreds of thousands of human trafficking (which includes adults and those trafficked into many other areas of labor) can’t be found, even with all the millions of dollars that they spend and all the government funded agencies looking for them. Like any other pandering politicians, these States Attorneys General and your mayor will jump on whatever politically expedient bandwagon that comes along, regardless of the facts or the Constitution.

emerald girl

I don't know much about McGinn's history on championing issues that are clearly about right and wrong or affect the vulnerable. I do know that a brief study of McKenna's track record as Attorney General will demonstrate that history. His one exception is the Healthcare Reform legislation (I think he caved to Republican panic over Tea Party furor).
What I really can't stand is deeply pessimistic and opinionated individuals masquerading as journalists. THAT is supposed to be one of the few remaining professions with some integrity.

Hanna Brooks Olsen

No one is saying that all child trafficking will end as soon as Backpage is shut down. But some definitely will.

Is not doing anything to fix a business plan that clearly allows child prostitution to occur on its watch better? Backpage still does promote the trafficking of many under-aged kids. Not taking action because it's not the biggest fish makes no sense.

Norma Jean Almodovar

There are hundreds of cases of sexually abused children at the hands of pedophile priests and preachers... Will shutting down the Catholic or or Protestant Churches stop pedophile priests and preachers? Will abolishing the Boy Scouts rid us of pedophile Boy Scout Leaders? What about the Explorer Scouts program where many of the cops find their underage females to diddle? Shall we stop that program? And how about schools? Have you not heard that children are sexually exploited by teachers? Shall we close the schools to keep those pedophile teachers away from the kids? These are far more significant to the problem of child sexual exploitation than backpage.com...

According to the US Government, (http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/conte... in the report entitled Sexual Assault of Young Children as Reported to Law Enforcement: Victim, Incident and Offender Characteristics") 90% of the child sexual exploitation cases are at the hands of someone the child knows- like those teachers and preachers and boy scout leaders- and 68% of those cases are at the hands of family members... ought we forbid women from having a boyfriend or remarrying after the father of the children is out of the home? Stepfathers and the boyfriends of the mothers are the primary abusers of children in the home.

You need to think clearly about (1) where the majority of cases happen- and that is NOT through the internet adult ads (90% from people the child knows already), and (2) how will it help anyone to stop adults from meeting each other for any reason?

Because we do not have unlimited resources and those scarce resources need to be used where the problems really occur. Or don't you care about the other victims of child sexual exploitation? Only the ones who are 'prostituted'? Do facts matter to you? Not MY facts- but the statistics that the US Government spends hundreds of millions of dollars to gather and report?