Nichols Kristof, Op-Ed Columnist, Opinion, Sept. 7, 2017<\/p>\n
Sex traffickers in America have the police and prosecutors pursuing them, but they do have one crucial (if secret) ally: Google.<\/p>\n
Google\u2019s motto has long been \u201cDon\u2019t be evil,\u201d and I admire lots about the company. But organizations it funds have for years been quietly helping Backpage.com, the odious website where most American victims of human trafficking are sold, to battle lawsuits<\/a> from children sold there for sex.<\/p>\n Now Google is using its enormous lobbying power in Washington to try to kill bipartisan legislation that would crack down on websites that promote sex trafficking.<\/p>\n \u201cI wanted to bring to your attention an issue that is picking up steam in the Senate and the House,\u201d a Google lobbyist, E. Stewart Jeffries, wrote in a letter <\/a>to congressional offices last month. He urged House members not to co-sponsor the legislation targeting sex trafficking.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not that Google is taking ads from Backpage (it doesn\u2019t) or giving it money. But as Backpage fights off prosecutors and worries about the legislation, the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act, Google has emerged as its behind-the-scenes champion.<\/p>\n Why? Why would Google ally itself with Backpage, which is involved in 73 percent of cases of suspected child sex trafficking in the U.S., which advertised a 13-year-old whose pimp had tattooed his name on her eyelids?<\/p>\n The answer has to do with Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which protects internet companies like Google (and The New York Times) from lawsuits \u2014 and also protects Backpage. Google seems to have a vague, poorly grounded fear <\/a>that closing the loophole would open the way to frivolous lawsuits and investigations and lead to a slippery slope that will damage its interests and the freedom of the internet.<\/p>\n That impresses few people outside the tech community, for the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act was crafted exceedingly narrowly to target only those intentionally engaged in trafficking children. Some tech companies, including Oracle, have endorsed the bill.<\/p>\n \u201cThis bill only impacts bad-actor websites,\u201d notes Yiota Souras, general counsel at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. \u201cYou don\u2019t inadvertently traffic a child.\u201d<\/p>\n Senator Rob Portman, an Ohio Republican and lead sponsor of the legislation, says that it would clearly never affect Google. \u201cWe\u2019ve tried to work with them,\u201d Portman told me.<\/p>\n Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, the lead Democratic sponsor, adds that \u201cit\u2019s truly baffling and perplexing\u201d that some in the tech world (Google above all) have dug in their heels. He says the sex trafficking bill gathered 28 co-sponsors within a week, making it a rare piece of bipartisan legislation that seems likely to become law.<\/p>\n I write about this issue because I\u2019m haunted by the kids I\u2019ve met who were pretty much enslaved, right here in the U.S. in the 21st century. I\u2019ve been writing about Backpage for more than five years, ever since I came across a terrified 13-year-old girl, Baby Face,<\/a> who had been forced to work for a pimp in New York City.<\/p>\n Baby Face said that when she balked, the pimp threw her down a stairway. Finally, one day she was hurting badly and could not bear to be raped any more. So when her pimp sold her on Backpage in Brooklyn and waited outside the building, Baby Face pounded on the door of another apartment, begged to use the phone and called her mom. The police rescued her and the pimp went to prison.<\/p>\n But it\u2019s not enough to send a few pimps to prison; we should also go after online marketplaces like Backpage. That\u2019s why Google\u2019s myopia<\/a> is so sad.<\/p>\n The Stop Enabling Sex Trafficking Act won\u2019t end trafficking any more than laws end bank robbery, but 50 attorneys general around the country have signed a letter<\/a> saying that this kind of legislation would help \u2014 an astonishing unanimity.<\/p>\n In response to my inquiries, Google issued a statement: \u201cBackpage acted criminally to facilitate child sex trafficking, and we strongly urge the Department of Justice to prosecute them for their egregious crimes against children. \u2026 Google will continue to work alongside Congress, antitrafficking organizations and other technology companies to combat sex trafficking.\u201d<\/p>\n Fine, but then why oppose legislation? Why use intermediaries to defend Backpage? To me, all this reflects the tech world\u2019s moral blindness about what\u2019s happening outside its bubble.<\/p>\n Even if Google were right that ending the immunity for Backpage might lead to an occasional frivolous lawsuit, life requires some balancing.<\/p>\n For example, websites must try to remove copyrighted material if it\u2019s posted on their sites. That\u2019s a constraint on internet freedom that makes sense, and it hasn\u2019t proved a slippery slope. If we\u2019re willing to protect copyrights, shouldn\u2019t we do as much to protect children sold for sex?<\/p>\n I asked Nacole, a mom in Washington State whose daughter was trafficked<\/a>on Backpage at the age of 15, what she would say to Google.<\/p>\n \u201cOur children can\u2019t be the cost of doing business,\u201d she said. Google understands so much about business, but apparently not that.<\/p>\n