A classified advertising website accused of being a “hub” for the sex trafficking of children has shut down its adult section in the US.

The move followed the publication of a Senate report that claimed Backpage.com had “knowingly concealed evidence of criminality” by editing ads featuring words associated with child abuse.

But...

The UK and other international versions of Backpage.com continue to offer their adult sections.

Apparently instead of deleting ads related to sex trafficking and they scrubbed "code words" which included:

rape, young, Lolita, fresh, schoolgirl

...

The committee added that by 2012, a different process had been put in place, which brought up an error message if the banned terms were detected.

It said these alerts identified the words that were barred, allowing users to resubmit their ads with the restricted terms removed.

For example:

‘Lipstick on a pig’

...

The editing practices amounted to "coaching" traffickers and pimps in how to make their ads appear legitimate while continuing to sell girls and boys into prostitution and modern-day slavery, McCaskill said. "That, ladies and gentlemen, is the definition of evil — simply evil," she said.

...

Prosecutors have alleged that more than 90 percent of Backpage's revenue — millions of dollars each month — comes from adult escort ads that use coded language and nearly nude photos to offer sex for money.

...

Despite the reported sale of Backpage to an undisclosed foreign company in 2014, the true beneficial owners of the company are James Larkin, Michael Lacey, and Carl Ferrer.

...

Executives at the advertising website Backpage.com refused to testify before Congress Tuesday following a Senate report that accuses the site of systematically editing its "adult" ads to remove words that indicate sex trafficking.

...

WITNESS LIST:

Carl Ferrer - Chief Executive Officer - Backpage.com

James Larkin - Former Owner - Backpage.com

Michael Lacey - Former Owner - Backpage.com

Elizabeth McDougall - General Counsel - Backpage.com

Andrew Padilla - Chief Operations Officer - Backpage.com

...

Video: Portman Questions Backpage CEO Carl Ferrer ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eysaStzQ0_c) )

...

Sources:

( http://theunhivedmind.com/news/2017/01/11/backpage-com-ditches-child-trafficking-and-child-sex-ads-section-after-senate-inquiry/) )

( http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/barbara-hollingsworth/backpage-shuts-down-adult-ad-section-execs-take-5th-after-senate) )

( http://www.portman.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=2F735F39-6408-4C60-9671-F78B3BAAF2E5) )