Tony Ortega Backpage Apologist
Beginning in or around January 2016, Backpage’s moderators were instructed to stop removing ads that contained the phrase “ _GFE_”, short for ‘Girl Friend Experience’. For example, on January 28, 2016, Assistant Operations Manager Joye Vaught was sent an email from a Backpage moderator explaining that “ _As far as I am aware we are no longer removing ads for GFE._“
Similarly, on March 9, 2016, a Backpage moderator sent an email to his coworkers explaining that “ Andrew [Padilla ] _and I talked about the GFE thing, going forward we will not be removing ads for GFE_” and clarifying “ _this includes even gfe with price.
It’s no secret Backpage flaunted local, state, and federal laws at every turn. Despite multiple pleas to cease and desist which the Backpage sex trafficking operation received from child advocacy groups and continued warnings from police departments across the country, the shadowy organization nonetheless persisted in its wanton abuses.
Court records show that on October 7, 2015, Backpage’s Manager of Operations, Andrew Padilla, received an email from another Backpage employee (which was later forwarded to Joye Vaught) disclosing that there were “ massive _numbers of live ads with banned terms and pictures out on the site.
Andrew Padilla
On April 24, 2014, Joye Vaught sent an email to Backpage’s moderators (while cc’ing Andrew Padilla). In this email, Vaught explained that if a moderator came across an ad containing a link to a a “ sex for money” website, the moderator should add the link to a list of banned terms but “ _don’t bother removing it from the current ad._” And that’s about as explicit an admission of guilt as there is.
Tony Ortega Backpage Apologist
On September 11, 2013, a Backpage representative made a presentation to the Arizona Governor’s Task Force on Human Trafficking. Following this presentation (which took place in Phoenix), the representative was asked whether there would be any “ _cons_” to requiring verifiable identification of all escorts being advertised on Backpage’s website. In response, the representative did not identify any financial or logistical hurdles to the adoption of such a requirement.
