Claire McCaskill , glaring at the five company executives sitting in front of her. Rob Portman , R-Ohio, and McCaskill, D-Missouri, laid out their findings, which were based on over a million pages of internal company documents.
For parents Tom and Nacole, this was a day they dreamed would come. Tom and Nacole traveled halfway across the country to testify at this Senate hearing, hoping that sharing their story may lead to Backpage being held accountable.
Based in Dallas, Backpage. Natalie ran away from home at age 15, and ended up falling into the hands of a pimp. She says she was forced into prostitution over times, and believes that Backpage. I mean a simple yes click was about as far as that went. The U. Senate has been investigating underage trafficking on Backpage for years and this week, the hearing marked a major breakthrough. They would then post the "cleaned up" ads to the site anyway. One by one, Ferrer, co-founders Jim Larkin and Mike Lacey, and other Backpage executives refused to testify at the hearing.
On their social media accounts, Backpage called the Senate investigation a violation of their First Amendment rights. The law protects all internet hosting companies, including Backpage, from being held legally responsible for what users post on their websites.
In the past, many underage girls who say they were trafficked on Backpage have tried suing the site. But so far, nearly every lawsuit has been dismissed under the CDA. And it was not censorship. Backpage has repeatedly claimed that they are part of the solution, not the problem. The company told ABC News in a previous statement that it employs moderators who diligently screen ads to stop underage trafficking on its site.
