Backpage Exposed: A Finger On the Scales of Justice

As we continue our examination of court documents recently obtained concerning the upcoming trial of James Larkin and Michael Lacey, the criminal masterminds federal prosecutors are convinced spearheaded the Backpage human sex trafficking scheme, the evidence of their clear and willful lawbreaking becomes increasingly hard to explain away. We doubt even Backpage’s most infamous lapdog propagandist, Tony Ortega, could spin a web of lies to cover over the facts we’re discovering as we pour over these documents.

Take for example the events of February 3, 2011, in which a Backpage “customer” who went by the name “Licks Alot” wrote an email to Backpage complaining that all of the pictures in one of her ads (entitled “Athletic SWF Guaranteed Low Mileage Boys!!!”) had been deleted.

Backpage CEO Carl Ferrer responded to “Licks Alot” by explaining that one of her photos had been removed because “ _[o]ur crazy internet safety experts do not want any genitalia showing up around the thong._“

But Carl Ferrer didn’t stop there. He documents show he then proceeded to apologize to “Licks Alot” over the removal of her remaining photos, allowed her ad (which, sorry Tony Ortega, was without question obviously for prostitution) to remain on the website, and offered her a free upgrade.

Tony Ortega

Then, a mere five days later, On February 8, 2011, Carl Ferrer testified in federal court (the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida) in the criminal trial of a pimp who had used Backpage to post prostitution ads. During his testimony, C.F. authenticated one of the ads the defendant had placed on Backpage, whose title was “Extra horny sexy newbie,” confirmed that Backpage had allowed this ad to be posted multiple times in various East Coast cities, and acknowledged that Backpage published “a lot” of similar ads. This episode provided further notice to Backpage that it was implausible to pretend such ads were merely offering lawful escort services, or as Tony Ortega might attempt to frame it, ‘two consenting adults finding each other’.

Backpage’s response to this was, as always, to downplay the issue.

On February 16, 2011, Andrew Padilla sent an email to Backpage’s India-based moderators (on which Joe Vaught was cc’d) explaining that Backpage was adopting a “ more lenient policy” and that he was instructing his Phoenix-based employees to “ _go easy on some types of violations._” Padilla acknowledged this approach would “ _likely_” result in more “ _violations_” but emphasized that “ _moderators should err on the side of the user._”

Clearly, Backpage game plan was never one built on abiding by the law. It was, even in its earliest days, always about “going easy on violations” and “erring on the side” of their sex trafficking user base. And they accomplished this the way back alley scam artists and con men tricksters so often do when cheating the public — by putting their fingers on the scales and brazenly lying about it.