Then, in response to Backpage’s response, the Senate investigators said, “Backpage’s response wasn’t to deny what we said. It was to shut down their site. That’s not ‘censorship’—it’s validation of our findings.” The Senate investigation sifted through 1.1 million pages, obtained by a federal court order. It also heard testimony from one ad moderator, who said he edited ads to make them “OK to run live” on the site.
Backpage, besides claiming censorship of free speech, also cited its willingness to turn over helpful documents to authorities during child sex trafficking investigations. As the president of Children of the Night, a nonprofit that rescues children from sex work, Lois Lee said in a statement, the closure of Backpage’s adult ad content signaled “a sad day for America’s children victimized by prostitution.”
[h/t: The Cut]
Article Appeared @http://www.esquire.com/lifestyle/news/a52212/backpage-adult-ads/