Sex website loses bid to claim freedom of press shield against Congress

By Stephen Dinan – The Washington Times
Friday, September 2, 2016
 

Backpage.com, one of the Internet’s largest sex-service websites, lost its bid Friday to claim protection under the First Amendment when a federal appeals court ruled the company must turn over internal files to Congress.

Senate investigators have been looking into whether Backpage does enough to screen out human trafficking victims, but company CEO Carl Ferrer has fought a subpoena, arguing he and his fellow employees are protected under the Constitution as online publishers.

First a lower judge rejected that and on Friday the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia denied a stay. Backpage now has 10 days to turn over the emails and other documents sought by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.

“Today’s ruling is a major step forward in our efforts to stop the scourge of online human trafficking and stand up for its thousands of innocent victims across the United States,” said Sen. Rob Portman, chairman of the subcommittee.

Backpage declined to comment on the ruling Friday.

The company says it does what it can to weed out illegal ads, but it does not have a specific policy for how employees are to do that. Instead, employees make their own judgments, the company told the court — adding that it would be burdensome to have to produce emails from each of them.

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE.

The Numbers

300+

NCOSE leads the Coalition to End Sexual Exploitation with over 300 member organizations.

100+

The National Center on Sexual Exploitation has had over 100 policy victories since 2010. Each victory promotes human dignity above exploitation.

93

NCOSE’s activism campaigns and victories have made headlines around the globe. Averaging 93 mentions per week by media outlets and shows such as Today, CNN, The New York Times, BBC News, USA Today, Fox News and more.

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