International Journal on Criminology Volume 7, Number 2, Spring 2020 | Page 101
International Journal on Criminology
ing pressure from activists and state attorneys general. 11 This led to advertisers
of adult services migrating to Backpage, which then became the predominant
player in the marketing of sexual services. The public online marketplace, Backpage,
differed from Craigslist in that most of its money was generated specifically
through the posting of escort and massage advertisements, and therefore, it more
freely advertised its adult services sections. 12 Backpage was shut down by federal
authorities in April 2018 shortly before greater controls were placed on internet
hosting providers as a result of new federal legislation. In the month before it was
shut down, Backpage posted over 133,000 advertisements for sexual services. 13
The ability to legally place advertisements online for sexual services ended
in the spring of 2018 when the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA)
and Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA) legislation
was passed by Congress with overwhelming support. The recently enacted
legislation removed the protections for webhosting services, ISPs, and social
media sites in regard to the crime of human trafficking. The legislation further
provided penalties for someone who “owns, manages, or operates an interactive
computer service (or attempts or conspires to do so) to promote or facilitate the
prostitution of another person.” Those found guilty can face up to ten years in
prison and hefty fines. 14
Within a month of the passage of the FOSTA-SESTA legislation and the
censoring of Backpage, advertisements for commercial sex plummeted 82 percent,
according to an organization mining escort advertisements. However, after
four months, the numbers of advertisements jumped back to 75 percent of their
daily volume before Backpage was censored. 15 Some analysts believe many advertisements
have merely shifted since 2018 to platforms hosted on servers outside
the reach of the United States and not subject to the new legislation. 16
11 Will Saletan, “Pimp Mobile: Craigslist shuts its ‘adult’ section. Where will the ads go now?” Slate,
September 7, 2010, https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2010/09/craigslist-shuts-its-adult-sectionwhere-will-sex-ads-go-now.html.
12 California Attorney General, “Attorney General Kamala D. Harris Announces Criminal Charges
Against Senior Corporate Officers of Backpage.com for Profiting from Prostitution and Arrest of
Carl Ferrer, CEO,” October 6, 2016, https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-ka
mala-d-harris-announces-criminal-charges-against-senior.
13 R. Tarinelli, “Online Sex Ads Rebound, Months After Shutdown of Backpage,” Forensic Magazine,
November 30, 2018, https://www.forensicmag.com/news/2018/11/online-sex-ads-reboundmonths-after-shutdown-backpage.
14 Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act of 2017, HR 1865, 115th Congress, retrieved
August 7, 2019, https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/1865.
15 C. Biederman, “Inside Backpage.com’s Vicious Battle with the Feds,” Wired, June 18, 2019, https://
www.wired.com/story/inside-backpage-vicious-battle-feds/.
16 E. Heil and A. Nichols, “Hot Spot Trafficking: A Theoretical Discussion of the Potential Problems
Associated with Targeted Policing and the Eradication of Sex Trafficking in the United States,” Contemporary
Justice Review 17, no, 4 (2014): 424.
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