Judge Kathryn Nelson has ruled against Backpage.com, Village Voice Media Holding LLC, and New Times Media today in Pierce County Superior Court. Judge Nelson denied the defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment.
“This ruling gets us closer to exposing the vile crime of underage sale of minors for sex. Facilitators who knowingly allow this on their platform cannot hide behind the Communication Decency Act,” said Kathleen Winn, director of AZMEN. “Today is a good day for advocates who know the truth about Backpage.com and how it plays a major role in the sex for profit criminal enterprise.”
A lawsuit was filed on behalf of Sojourner Center, a nonprofit based in Phoenix that helps victims of trafficking and domestic violence, by the Women’s Legal Defense and Education Fund and Boies Schiller Flexner LLP against the website Backpage.com for participating in the trafficking of children and young adults for sex.
According to plaintiffs, Backpage has avoided civil and criminal liability in the past by claiming that it was simply an innocent website posting ads by others. However, evidence cited in the complaints, including evidence resulting from Boies Schiller Flexner’s investigation and a recent United States Senate investigation, shows that Backpage actively participated in preparing the content of advertisements offering children and others for commercial sex.
One of the lawsuits, filed in the Middle District of Florida, is being brought on behalf of Florida Abolitionist, an anti-trafficking organization based in Orlando, and Jane Doe, who was raped as a result of an ad placed on Backpage.com.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has reported that over the last five years it has seen a 98 percent increase in reports of suspected child sex trafficking, much of it online. Seventy-one percent of the recent child sex trafficking reports it receives are linked to Dallas-based Backpage.com, which brings in roughly $9 million in revenue per month through sales of sex ads (including ads selling children). A battle being waged by several mothers whose middle-school daughters were victims of trafficking on Backpage.com is the subject of a movie, “I Am Jane Doe,” to be released on February 10.
Earlier this year, Backpage.com announced it was closing its Adult Services section, but the ads for sex trafficking have simply moved to its Dating section, according to the two lawsuits.
In October, Backpage.com CEO Carl Ferrer was arrested on criminal charges filed by California Attorney General Kamala Harris that included pimping a minor. Backpage.com’s two controlling shareholders, Michael Lacey and James Larkin, were arrested on charges of conspiracy to commit pimping. Although earlier charges were dismissed, a new round of criminal charges, which now include money laundering, remain pending in California.