[jovrtn]

According to the Senate report on the matter[0], Backpage would systematically help posters reword illegal ads to appear less so:

"Backpage has publicly touted its process for screening adult advertisements as an industry-leading effort to protect against criminal abuse, including sex trafficking. A closer review of that “moderation” process reveals, however, that Backpage has maintained a practice of altering ads before publication by deleting words, phrases, and images indicative of an illegal transaction."

[0] https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Backpage%20Report...

[noobermin]

Scanned the executive summary. That does sound like they aren't good guys. As I posted above, putting down backpage as a whole puts a lot of sex workers at risk, but this gives me mixed feelings about backpage in general.

[jovrtn]

Yeah—not arguing the overall wisdom of law enforcement's approach here, but it's important to understand how much these guys were aware of the illegal activity on their platform and chose to actively facilitate it.

[sbr464]

I can’t help but think that the lawyers and marketing team for Donald Trump struggle keeping up with this same task on a daily basis.