Are you familiar with the website “Backpage.com?” Yeah, me either, I totally didn’t know that it was a classified website where young ladies offered to sell their “companionship” to desperate, yet generous gentlemen. That site, which is totally not in my bookmarks, has shut down their adult ad section for U.S. users on Monday.
The Texas-based website markets themselves as a place that offers “free classified ads with photos to find houses and apts for rent, personals, jobs, cats and dogs for sale.
RIIIIIIGHT. I go on there to find a cat. Technically, not completely untruthful.
However, a damning bipartisan Senate Investigations Subcommittee report accused Backpage of selling more than apartments and used Jordans. The report stated that the site hosted criminal activity including child sex trafficking and prostitution. The report said Backpage has “knowingly concealed evidence of criminality by systematically editing its adult ads” for up to a decade. “Backpage knows that it facilitates prostitution and child sex trafficking,” the report said.
Backpage responded on their Twitter to the shutdown.
Backpage Removes Adult Content Due to Unconstitutional Government Censorship https://t.co/TEpZ86jupR #FREESPEECH
— backpage.com (@backpagecom) January 10, 2017
Backpage released a statement that blamed the U.S. government’s tactics “including pressuring credit card companies to cease doing business with Backpage,” and left it with “no other choice but to remove the content in the United States.”
“This will not end the fight for online freedom of speech. Backpage.com will continue to pursue its efforts in court to vindicate its First Amendment rights and those of other online platforms for third party expression,” the statement read.
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Now all of your favorite categories such as “escorts,” “body rubs,” “dom & fetish,” and “male escorts” have all been taken down and have the word “censored” over them.
For strictly investigative journalism reasons, I attempted to venture onto the adult sections and was greeted with a message that said:
CENSORED
The government has unconstitutionally censored this content.
Use your social media to support #FREESPEECH #BACKPAGE
Many individuals have voiced their concerns over the censorship on Backpage and how it will only hurt, not help sex workers.
shutting down #backpage to end "trafficking" will only end up hurting sex workers, jeopardizing their safety, forcing some to the street.
— jessica drake (@thejessicadrake) January 10, 2017
So, the censoring of the escort pages on backpage is a huge blow to sex workers nationwide. Esp, POC and LGBT sexworkers
— πAHYA SIMONE ππͺγγ’γΌγ€γΌγ»γ·γ’γ³γπͺπ (@idee_fixe_) January 10, 2017
https://twitter.com/dommedanielle/status/818714704801648641
Meanwhile, others have offered alternatives for selling their services.
https://twitter.com/MsMyaG/status/818845875422130181
What are poor johns supposed to do now? Use Craigslist like a heathen from 2002? Don’t answer that question, I already know that it’s on to Eros now.
[NBCNews]