The men behind controversial website Backpage edited prostitution advertisements to remove indications of wrongdoing and promote sexual trafficking of underage girls, a U. Senate report released Monday alleged. Once the problem words were stripped out, the ad would run, said the report, which contains allegations unproven in court. Reading this on your iPhone or iPad?
Lawsuits and prosecutions against Backpage, including charges of pimping by California Attorney General Kamala Harris, have failed in the past because the firm has been deemed protected from liability under the Communications Decency Act. The cases have been closely watched in Silicon Valley, because technology firms such as Facebook, Google and Twitter also rely on the Act to shield them from liability over content posted by others. In December, after a California judge threw out pimping charges against Backpage, Harris filed more pimping charges along with charges of money laundering.
As far back as , Backpage was editing ads to conceal criminal activity, the report said. The company then imposed a more formal process of manual and automatic editing, according to the report, which was based largely on internal company documents obtained by a court order.
The month investigation also revealed that the two Backpage owners, Michael Lacey and James Larkin, who reportedly sold the business to a Dutch firm, retained ownership through a web of shell companies, the report claimed. The report quoted a federal appeals court ruling that said a website operator who edits user-created content retains immunity from liability if the edits are unrelated to illegality, but loses immunity if they edit in a way that contributes to the illegality. On Monday night, the U.
Scheduled to appear are Ferrer, Lacey and Larkin; Backpage lawyer Elizabeth McDougall; company chief operations officer Andrew Padilla; and three parents of alleged victims.
