By M. Christian
YNOT – Even though the maxim is as true now as when first coined, “sex sells” may not be enough to keep online classified ads service backpage.com from vanishing into history — though its owner is prepared to go down swinging.
Much like rival Craigslist, Village Voice Media’s backpage long has been a source for both good and shady deals. After a drawn-out, vociferous assault by law enforcement and religious conservatives, plus a highly publicized serial killer case in which Craigslist ads may have played a role, Craigslist shuttered its “adult services” section in September 2010. Backpage charged into the breach, declaring it would not cave.
All looked fine until Sunday, when The New York Times ran a lengthy opinion piece exposing disgraced investment banking and securities firm Goldman Sachs as a stakeholder in Village Voice Media. As noted by Motherboard, “Goldman may be an uncannily-ruthless money-making machine with few, if any, morals, but the bank isn’t stupid.”
Goldman almost immediately dropped its $30 million investment in alternative publisher Village Voice.
Pundits right away began expounding upon backpage’s future. Many prognosticated the site’s practice of selling sex would cease posthaste, going down in the same sort of flames that consumed Craigslist.
Village Voice has pledged to keep backpage going … despite suddenly finding itself in the crosshairs of moral outrage.
“An L.A. Times story from November of last year notes that ‘[s]ince August, protests have included a letter by 51 attorneys general, a full-page ad in the New York Times by religious leaders and picketing of the VVM offices in New York’ — all demanding the shuttering of the company’s ‘adult’ online listings,” Motherboard noted.
Village Voice is digging in with claims it keeps an eye out for suspicious ads. In addition, the media conglomerate has taken a swipe at sex-trafficking studies, calling them “junk science.”
The company — and others that operate similar websites — face what may be a seminal test: A new law in Washington state requires sites that publish ads for adult services to maintain documentation proving advertisers are over 18, effectively removing “safe harbor” provisions typically accorded mainstream third-party publishers in federal law. The Washington law is expected to spread nationwide on the rising tide of conservative nanny-ism.
Village Voice is considering a legal challenge to the Washington law.
