More local mayors go after BackPage.com
Aug 22, 2011, 3:13 PM | Updated: 4:20 pm
Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn is joined by seven mayors from other Washington cities asking the parent company of Seattle Weekly to change its association with a classified advertising site for adults.
The letter to Village Voice Media CEO Jim Larkin urges him to require several things of escorts who want to advertise through the classified service, Backpage.com. The mayors want escorts to provide photo ID, in person, to prove that they’re 18 or older. Police departments in Seattle and Tacoma say they’ve recovered dozens of children who have been trafficked through Backpage.com.
“There is an urgent need to act quickly,” the letter states. Here’s the rest of it:
“Backpage.com does not employ adequate safeguards to prevent underage sex trafficking. To place an ad on Backpage.com, all one has to do is check a box saying that the person featured in the ad is over age 18. Other advertising services require a photo ID to be brought to an office, in person, to verify age. We believe this practice is substantially more effective at rooting out underage sex trafficking. In the last 18 months the City of Seattle has not found any evidence of underage sex trafficking on sites requiring photo ID. Since the beginning of 2010, 22 children advertised on Backpage.com were recovered by the Seattle Police Department. The Tacoma Police Department reports they are currently working on 16 cases of juvenile prostitution involving 14 persons who had Backpage.com ads.”
The letter is signed by the mayors of Seattle, Pullman, Tacoma, Bellingham, Moses Lake, Shoreline, Spokane, and Kennewick.
I’m waiting for a comment from Village Voice Media.
