It doesn't seem to me that this result should have been difficult to predict. Some people did, of course, but neither politicians nor the mainstream press seeme

It doesn't seem to me that this result should have been difficult to predict. Some people did, of course, but neither politicians nor the mainstream press seemed to give the argument much consideration. There's even evidence suggesting that backpage.com was effectively railroaded, and actively aided law enforcement in identifying and prosecuting pimps and child abusers (this source has a known libertarian political bias): https://reason.com/2019/08/26/secret-memos-show-the-government-has-been-lying-about-backpage/ https://reason.com/2019/08/26/secret-memos-show-the-governme...