By Laura DeKoven Waxman
October 1, 2012

It was reported September 24 that Village Voice Media, which owns weekly newspapers in 13 cities, is separating from the online classified site Backpage.com, which individual mayors, the Conference of Mayors, and others have criticized for advertising adult escort services without requiring age verification to ensure that such services are not being provided by minors. A group of Village Voice’s managers have obtained at least some of the financing needed to buy the news organization from its current owners, leaving Backpage.com as a separate online classified advertising company.

Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn, who first brought his concern with Backpage.com to the attention of other mayors during the Conference of Mayors July 2011 Conference leadership meeting in Los Angeles, said during a September 26 press conference that he appreciated the decision by the Seattle Weekly and Village Voice Media’s other newspapers to disassociate from Backpage.com. “At the same time Backpage.com is still out there,” he commented. “They’re still advertising; they’re still accelerating sexual exploitation of minors, and I will continue working with other mayors and with our state leaders to figure out how we can address that, how we can get Backpage.com to stop as well.”

Led by McGinn, in May nearly 50 mayors sent a letter to Village Voice Media’s CEO urging him “to take steps to prevent the use of Backpage.com for underage sex trafficking by requiring in-person verification of any prospective escort advertiser’s ID, as well as proof of identity and age for anyone pictured in an escort ad.” No response to the letter was ever received.

McGinn sponsored a resolution adopted by the Conference of Mayors in June during the Orlando annual meeting, which called on Backpage.com and other classified services nationwide to implement in person age verification and end the sale of children through their services. It further called on Congress, state legislatures, and local elected bodies to pass legislation to address commercial advertising over the Internet for sexual abuse of minors.

Joining McGinn in the press conference was State Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles, who successfully sponsored such a bill in Washington State. Her legislation created a new crime of advertising commercial sexual abuse of a minor but permitting an affirmative defense if the defendant documents that it had verified the age of the person being depicted in ads. Backpage.com, however, has sued the state to block implementation of the new law.

“It’s unfortunate, though, that Backpage.com’s priority is its $21 million annual revenue in adult escort services ads over ensuring minors are not being sold for sex in such ads. By requiring age verification of those depicted in the ads, Backpage.com’s revenue would have a relatively small impact, but it would join other advertisers, such as Craig’s List and The Stranger, in standing against advertising commercial sexual abuse of a minor,” commented Kohl-Welles. She complimented Village Voice Media’s new owners “for doing the right thing,” however.