BuzzFeed News
Backpage.com, the popular classified ads website, went offline Friday after being seized and disabled by the federal government.
Visitors to backpage.com and backpage.ca were met with a message that stated, "backpage.com and affiliated websites have been seized as part of an enforcement action by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division."
The site — known for personal adult ads — was the dominant online hub for sex workers to advertise their services.
The Department of Justice confirmed the message's legitimacy, but did not comment further. Backpage did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The FBI's Phoenix branch raided the home of Backpage founder Michael Lacey Friday morning, according to local station 3TV/CBS 5. The FBI office did not immediately respond to request for comment.
A judge dismissed pimping charges against Lacey, former owner James Larkin, and Backpage CEO Carl Ferrer in 2016.
Meanwhile, people who said they had placed ads on Backpage complained that they were not issued refunds or notified of a shutdown.
Miss Marla Moon, a sex worker who specializes in domination, told BuzzFeed News she lost $50 when Backpage went down Friday and that, for the past two years, she had spent $50 on Backpage ads nearly every day. She said it's not the first time the site has closed its services without warning and failed to issue refunds.
In early 2017, Backpage shuttered its adult ads section, a popular marketplace for sex workers, and Moon said people who had paid for ads in advance were not refunded. The company stopped displaying adult ads in advance of a Senate hearing on whether the site knowingly facilitated child sex trafficking.
Backpage has been under increasing scrutiny over its personal ads. In 2015, major credit card companies stopped processing payments for the site amid allegations from authorities that it was facilitating sex trafficking and prostitution.
Some people said they did not see the seizure message despite links to the site not working, likely because the site's servers had yet to update.
Craigslist recently took down its personal ads section in response to the Stop Enabling Sex Trafficking Act, known as SESTA, saying it could open the company up to “criminal and civil liability when third parties (users) misuse online personals unlawfully," and that it “can't take such risk without jeopardizing all our other services."
SESTA aims to halt sex trafficking, particularly of children, by restricting what kind of information can be posted on websites like Backpage, where people often advertise sexual services. Critics say it endangers sex workers and may impinge on free speech online.
LINK: Craigslist Just Took Personal Ads Offline Because Of A New Anti-Sex Trafficking Law
from BuzzFeed - Tech https://www.buzzfeed.com/blakemontgomery/backpage-service-disruption?utm_term=4ldqpia
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