Post by Logan on Feb 10, 2016 4:04:56 GMT -6
WASHINGTON — A Senate investigation into child sex trafficking could result in civil contempt charges against a major sex advertising website and its CEO, two lawmakers said Tuesday.
Sens. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., announced plans to advance a resolution holding Backpage.com, the advertising website, in contempt of Congress. The two lawmakers said the company has refused to comply with a subpoena seeking documents about how it screens ads for warning signings of sex trafficking.
Portman and McCaskill said their Senate probe, launched last year, revealed that hundreds of cases of sex-trafficking — some involving children — were linked to Backpage.com. Portman said the website sits at the center of an “online black market” for traffickers.
“We have given Backpage.com every opportunity to comply with a lawful subpoena, but they have continued to stonewall,” Portman and McCaskill said in a joint statement Tuesday. “Backpage.com’s ongoing obstruction of this investigation will not be tolerated. It is vital that Congress learns how human trafficking occurs on the Internet and what can be done to stop it.”
Read more: www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/2016/02/09/portman-push-hold-sex-ad-website-contempt/80063978/
Sens. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., announced plans to advance a resolution holding Backpage.com, the advertising website, in contempt of Congress. The two lawmakers said the company has refused to comply with a subpoena seeking documents about how it screens ads for warning signings of sex trafficking.
Portman and McCaskill said their Senate probe, launched last year, revealed that hundreds of cases of sex-trafficking — some involving children — were linked to Backpage.com. Portman said the website sits at the center of an “online black market” for traffickers.
“We have given Backpage.com every opportunity to comply with a lawful subpoena, but they have continued to stonewall,” Portman and McCaskill said in a joint statement Tuesday. “Backpage.com’s ongoing obstruction of this investigation will not be tolerated. It is vital that Congress learns how human trafficking occurs on the Internet and what can be done to stop it.”
Read more: www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/2016/02/09/portman-push-hold-sex-ad-website-contempt/80063978/