OpsLens Video
Following years of turmoil and controversy, the classified website Backpage has been seized by United States authorities. The notice attached to the website explains that Backpage.com and its affiliate websites have been seized by the FBI. Backpage was the second largest online classified website in the United States behind Craigslist.
The website was notorious for sex ads promoting prostitution and human trafficking. Over the years, there have been several cases of minors being sold for sex through ads posted to Backpage.
A Senate investigation revealed that administrators of Backpage were scrubbing sex ads for terms associated with child sex trafficking and running the ads anyway. When the owners of Backpage appeared on Capitol Hill in 2017, they refused to answer questions.
The Senate recently approved a bipartisan bill that would hold websites accountable for posting sex ads associated with human trafficking. Following that announcement, Craigslist shut down its entire personal section.
