Why did they take down backpage.com?

[LisaSimpson]

Backpage advertised escorts in the US and it was taken down for facilitating prostitution by the FBI. I wonder why backpage.com has been seized, while there are still escort agency websites and escort websites in the USA.

Was it because the text and titles in the ads suggested sexual services? Was it because the pictures suggested sexual services?

What do you think?

 

[negon]

maybe a legal thing ...?!

 

[bibing]

Long story short: Backpage.com didn't do anything about clear messages/signals from people/girls being trafficked who needed help.
You can read the entire verdict online if you google properly. It's an interesting (long) read.

I'm starting an escort classifieds website. So I gathered lots of info about keeping it clean.
I'm targeting European escorts so that's a different cup of tea.
If ever you get some smell of human traffic, you have perhaps a moral duty to make an anonymous report to the authorities.
In addition to avoid and ban the IP of people posting such ads.
Some escort classifieds website are asking for a copy of the escort ID which will at least show there are no minors involved.

Keep it clean and safe for everybody and you can sleep nicely.

 

[anotherone]

Long story short: Backpage.com didn't do anything about clear messages/signals from people/girls being trafficked who needed help.
You can read the entire verdict online if you google properly. It's an interesting (long) read.

I'm starting an escort classifieds website. So I gathered lots of info about keeping it clean.
I'm targeting European escorts so that's a different cup of tea.
If ever you get some smell of human traffic, you have perhaps a moral duty to make an anonymous report to the authorities.
In addition to avoid and ban the IP of people posting such ads.
Some escort classifieds website are asking for a copy of the escort ID which will at least show there are no minors involved.

Keep it clean and safe for everybody and you can sleep nicely.

Thank you for your post, It helped me to carry my investigation. It appears that backpage was taken down because of child s-x trafficking but not prostitution.
Quite interestingly, the law enforcement authorities in the USA aren't the source of the story. It looks like someone has decided to trap backpage by asking underaged individuals to place ads on backpage. These ads were filtered but they weren't rejected. This is the exact reason why backpage was taken down.
I think a former employee decided to take his revenge because the senate report about backpage is very well documented. It's full of insider information dated from 10 years before the report.
From what I have read, if they have had a different moderation policy, they could have got away with it.

 

[EliasIT]

The post is more than 4 years old