Backpage Exposed: Doubling Down On Deceit

Tony Ortega

If you’ve ever wondered just how much effort Backpage put into its ‘performative compliance with the law’ when it came to the thorough ‘self moderation’ Tony Ortega assured us all was taking place, wonder no more.

Court documents reveal that on September 1, 2010, Andrew Padilla sent an email to Dan Heyer and Carl Ferrer stating that customers who engaged in “extreme and repeat” violations of Backpage’s posting rules would have their ads deleted and be banned from the website. However, Padilla also stated the bans would only be temporary and that “ we’ll do everything we can to affect only the worst apples.”

On September 1, 2010, Scott Spear received an email acknowledging that Backpage’s moderators were being instructed to “ _Remove any sex act pics in escorts [ads]_” and “ Remove any illegal text in escorts [ads] to include any code words for sex act for money.”

On September 21, 2010, a group of state attorneys general wrote a letter to a Backpage. This letter observed that “ _ads for prostitution-including ads trafficking children- -are rampant on the site_” and argued that “ _[b]ecause Backpage cannot, or will not, adequately screen these ads, it should stop accepting them altogether._” The letter acknowledged that this step would cause Backpage to “ _lose the considerable revenue generated by the adult services ads_” but stated that “ no amount of money can justify the scourge of illegal prostitution, and the misery of the women and children who will continue to be victimized, in the marketplace provided by backpage.”

But Backpage was intent on doubling down on its deceit.

Carl Ferrer

On September 25, 2010, Carl Ferrer. wrote an email explaining that Backpage was unwilling to delete ads that included terms indicative of prostitution because doing so would “ _piss off a lot of users who will migrate elsewhere_” and force Backpage to refund those customers’ fees.

By October of that year they were willing to take things a step further. It was then Padilla sent an email threatening to fire any Backpage employee who acknowledged, in writing, that a customer was a prostitute:

“Leaving notes on our site that imply that we’re aware of prostitution, or in any position to define it, is enough to lose your job over. This isn’t open for discussion. If you don’t agree with what I’m saying completely, you need to find another job.”

Hear those words again . This isn’t open for discussion. Of course it wasn’t open for discussion. The decision to lie and misrepresent themselves as proactively addressing sex trafficking on their platform was nothing more than a dog and pony show. But it’s the next line that is truly chilling: If you don’t agree with what I’m saying completely, you need to find another job.

This is not the language of an ethical business trying to obey the law, this is the language of a sex trafficking mafia syndicate doubling down on its intention to break it.