In a unanimous vote on Wednesday, a Senate committee advanced a resolution holding the online advertiser Backpage.com in contempt of Congress for failing to comply with a Senate investigation into sex trafficking.
Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) introduced the measure. The two have been leading a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee probe into human trafficking that ensnared Backpage—an online competitor to Craigslist.com
The senators claim to have turned up hundreds of cases of illegal sex trafficking that could be linked to Backpage classifieds—some involved children.
The company, which allows users to post ads for jobs, goods and services, and adult entertainment, claims to employ a team of screeners who report and remove any ads suspected of exploiting minors. It has resisted, however, congressional inquiries into those internal operations.
“Backpage refused to give us answers to legitimate questions,” Sen. Portman told the committee Wednesday, when bringing up the contempt resolution. He noted that the company and its CEO, Carl Ferrer, ignored a subpoena last year to disclose the procedures Backpage uses to combat traffickers.
Ferrer also stood up senators last November when he declined to testify before the investigatory panel.
“This is a clear sign that they’re not dealing with us in good faith,” Portman told his colleagues.
Sen. McCaskill called Ferrer’s response to the investigation “the height of arrogance, and the height of thumbing one’s nose at our laws in this country.”
“I’m disgusted that any company would not participate and cooperate in an investigation into the trafficking of children,” she added, saying that the contempt resolution serves as “an antidote for how damn mad I am.”
The next step is a vote before the full Senate. If the resolution passes, lawyers on Capitol Hill will file suit in the US District Court for DC, requesting that the subpoena against Backpage is enforced. If the company continues to resist, it could be subject to heavy civil penalties.
A spokesman with the company declined requests to comment from USA Today.
