CHICAGO — Backpage.com, the classified listings website, filed a
lawsuit Tuesday against the Cook County Sheriff, who recently
persuaded several credit card companies to stop offering their
payment services on the site.
MasterCard Inc., American Express Inc. and Visa Inc. said that
they would stop processing ad sales on the "adult" section of the
site, heeding a call from Sheriff Thomas Dart, who alleged in a
letter to the companies that the website's adult section helps fuel
the illegal sex industry.
In the suit, filed in federal district court in Chicago,
Backpage says the sheriff, in using his legal authority to persuade
the card companies to discontinue their dealings with the website,
violated the free speech rights of individuals who use the service
to post ads.
The filing asks the court also to award Backpage damages making
up for lost revenue and goodwill resulting from the lost
business.
"Sheriff Dart's actions to cripple Backpage.com and all speech
through the site are an especially pernicious form of prior
restraint," the suit said. "He has achieved his purpose through
false accusations, innuendo, and coercion."
Liz McDougall, general council to Backpage.com LLC, said, "Our
goal is to ensure that one elected official, particularly a county
sheriff, cannot dictate what speech is or is not appropriate."
Mr. Dart's office acknowledged that Backpage's business model is
protected by the law, because Backpage isn't responsible for the
content posted on its website. But Ben Breit, a spokesman for the
Sheriff's office, said the sheriff requested that the credit card
companies voluntarily discontinue their relationships with Backpage
"in the name of good corporate citizenship."
"It is regrettable that Backpage has dedicated so many resources
to lawyers and lobbyists when they could be partnering with
law-enforcement to seek justice for sex trafficking victims," a
statement from the sheriff's office read.
Payment card networks are just the latest in a long series of
battles between the listings site and public officials. In 2012,
public pressure helped prompt Village Voice Media holdings LLC to
spin off Backpage from its portfolio of media entities including
Village Voice and LA Weekly. Earlier this month, the Attorney
General of Massachusetts urged Backpage to remove its adult section
after two men allegedly killed an escort they found through a
listing on the website.
"Most of the human trafficking cases that our office has
prosecuted specifically involve advertisements on Backpage," a
statement from Attorney General Maura Healey's office said.
But the website has overwhelmingly prevailed in legal
challenges, with federal courts repeatedly stating that the ads it
hosts are protected speech.
Mr. Dart's approach of limiting the website's operation through
credit-card companies also represents a departure from his own past
efforts. In 2009, the Sheriff filed suit against Craigslist, saying
that the website's erotic services section facilitated prostitution
and was therefore a public nuisance.
Mr. Dart lost that case on First Amendment grounds. One year
later, Craigslist closed its adult section, responding in part to
public pressure.
Write to Michelle Hackman at Michelle.Hackman@wsj.com
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