<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">This is the beginning of the Backpage.</span></p><p><b style="font-weight:normal;" id="docs-internal-guid-f6c187a6-7fff-0235-cc91-ff8038c86e32"><br></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">Backpage.com was an online classified ads website that was launched in 2004 as a competitor to Craigslist by the alternative newspaper chain New Times Media/New Times Media. Backpage.com competed with Craigslist by providing users with the ability to post adverts online.</span></p><p><b style="font-weight:normal;"><br></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">Backpage is an online classifieds website that is comparable to Craigslist in that it lets users to post adverts in a variety of categories, some of which are automotive, personal, jobs, rentals, and adult services. Backpage also allows users to post advertisements for adult services. It didn't take long for it to pass over Craigslist and become the second most popular online classifieds site in the United States. [Citation needed] [Citation needed]</span></p><p><b style="font-weight:normal;"><br></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">The "adult services" section of Craigslist was forced to be taken down in 2010 as a direct result of pressure from various state attorneys general and other critics of the website. These people claimed that the website encouraged criminal behavior among its members, such as prostitution, and that it allowed such behavior. After the majority of the adult advertising industry that had previously been featured on Craigslist was relocated to other websites, Backpage emerged as the big winner and took the first position.</span></p><p><b style="font-weight:normal;"><br></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">Backpage had resisted efforts to regulate the site until January 2017, when it eventually shut down its adult section ahead of congressional hearings. This forced former critics of Craigslist to focus their attention to Backpage, which had resisted efforts to regulate the site until that point.</span></p><p><b style="font-weight:normal;"><br></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">Backpage.com, who is filing this lawsuit</span></p><p><b style="font-weight:normal;"><br></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">Plaintiff Backpage.com, which operates an online classified advertising business, has its headquarters located at the website with the domain name www.backpage.com. Backpage.com is the world's second largest online advertising business since it acts as a host for millions of adverts that are posted by advertisers from all over the world every single month. The website for Backpage.com is currently the website with the second most visitors all over the world. The advertisements for the classifieds are arranged in a variety of categories, some of which include the state and city, the local region, the work and community, the trade, the purchase-sales, the rent, the real estate, musicians, employment, dating, adults, and services categories. Users of the website Backpage.com are the ones that create and publish the adverts that can be found on the site. In order to submit an ad in the adult sector, they are asked to pay a fee that ranges from $5 to $10, however in the dating section, they are just required to pay $1. In addition, users have the opportunity to submit adverts for no additional cost. Customers of Backpage.com have the option of using a credit card to pay for the cost of an advertisement, in addition to the several other payment options that are available to them.</span></p><p><b style="font-weight:normal;"><br></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">The Terms of Service for Backpage.com, as well as the nature of the service itself, prohibit users from posting or engaging in activities that are illegal while using the Backpage.com website. This includes both the distribution of content that breaks the law as well as the commission of illegal acts. A former. B. Adults who are over the age of 18 are the only people who are allowed to post in adult sections that are designated for that purpose, and only adult content and explicit material may be published there. "obscene or obscene and genital or images that reflect obscene imagery, actual or simulated sexual activity or nudity" are not allowed to be displayed on the ID. Also prohibited are photographs that represent nudity. Id. et al. AC ("Posting Rules"). Users are cautioned that any post that exploits a child in any way, shape, or form in any way may be subject to criminal prosecution and may be reported to CyberTipline for the purposes of law enforcement.</span></p><p><br></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">If a user on ID comes across an advertisement that does not comply with these guidelines, that user has the ability to report the advertisement to Backpage.com by clicking the link labeled "Report ad" that is located within the advertisement that they keep. This link can be found within the advertisement that the user keeps. When the user clicks this, they are led to a page where they can report an advertisement and select whether or not the advertisement includes "inappropriate or unlawful content," "uploaded too much spam," or is in the "wrong category." When users encounter an advertising that "appears to contain images of threats to a kid or child exploitation," they are prompted to make a report to the website adsnoty.com.</span></p>
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