3 ms·

Something like a dumb wordfilter? Or did they just ban words and traffickers posted ads that didn't include them?

• jovrtn 9y ago
  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%202017.01.10%20FINAL.pdf https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Backpage%20Report...
  • noobermin 9y ago
    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 9y ago
      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 9y ago
    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.
• jstarfish 9y ago
  If they actively banned/prohibited ads/posters that used obviously illegal terms, I suspect they wouldn't be in the situation they're currently in. Instead, someone would post an ad for a "sexy mocha l0lita 4 you", and Backpage values profit over principles so they took it upon themselves to remove the term "l0lita" and allow such ads to be posted.